San Francisco: Bebo, the global Social Media Network, has announced that it has launched its Open Application Platform, opening its API to third party developers to integrate their applications with the Bebo site. At a launch event held in San Francisco, Bebo announced partnerships with more than 40 developers to date who have created applications from music and movies to gameplay and photo sharing for the site's 40 million users worldwide. Joining Bebo for today's launch event were developers from NBC Universal, Gaia Online, and Flixster to demonstrate how their applications are now featured on Bebo.

The Bebo Open Application Platform will be the first in the industry to implement the standards defined by the Facebook Platform, an open development system that enables companies and engineers to extend Facebook's more than 7,000 applications to other social websites.

Bebo's Open Application Platform will allow developers of all sizes to generate revenues as they build engaging applications for Bebo's international user base. Additional launch partners include NBA, The Gap, Yahoo!, FashMatch, Webs.com, Bantr, Last.fm, MesmoTV, PokerSavvy, Jangl, PicksPal, Qloud, Atomic Moguls and a host of others that have already developed applications for the site. Many developer partners will be launching applications for the very first time on Bebo.

"By opening up our API and establishing an open developer-friendly platform, we enable developers big and small to create entertaining, engaging applications for our global community - providing another great way for Beboers to communicate, relate and express themselves online," said Michael Birch, CEO and co-founder, Bebo.

"With Bebo's implementation of Facebook's open standards, developers can expand their reach, which will lead to even more application development, and ultimately benefit both Bebo users and Facebook users," said Adam D'Angelo, chief technology officer, Facebook.  

In its quest to make it as seamless as possible for developers to reach their users, Bebo plans to integrate with OpenSocial™ in early 2008, making it the first social media network to be compatible with both the Facebook and OpenSocial platforms.

In November, the company launched Open Media, ushering in a new way for Bebo users to explore and experience content on the Internet, while giving media companies a new way to promote, distribute and monetize their programming. Bebo's Open Media launch partners included CBS, MTV, BBC and more than 22 other global media companies.

Quality, Discovery, Sharing

Bebo's commitment to offering the best social media experience continues with the release of the Open Application Platform. Bebo has also implemented several quality control features, including a user generated ratings system, the ability to turn Autoplay off and on for a richer experience and the ability for users to both completely block applications for being spammy, and communicate with Bebo why they are blocking them.

The Open Application Platform creates a brand new way for Beboers to discover and share applications. They can check out aggregate application ratings specific to their friend networks, see what other Beboers adopting similar applications are using, and benefit from an intuitive directory on the Bebo site.  

"The Gap brand celebrates individual style and has long been a part of America's popular culture," said Will Hunsinger, vice president and general manager of Gap Online. "We are thrilled to be working with Bebo to provide their members with an interactive application that allows them to cast themselves as Gap models. This is another way for Gap to be a part of social culture in its ever changing forms and to engage with the community in a fun way."  

Bebo's Open Application Platform launch partners include:  

Atomic Moguls, Astrology.com, Bantr, Befunky, Blurb, Bunchball, BunnyHero Labs, CBS, Chainn, Inc., Fashmatch, Flixster, Gaia Online, Gap, Inc., Goodreads, iLike, Jangl, Kadoink, Last.fm, MesmoTV, National Basketball Association (NBA), NBC Universal, Ooga Labs, Pickspal, Pocketbook, PokerSavvy, Presidio Media, Qloud, RockYou, Slide, Social Media, Wallop, Webs.com, WidgetBox, Where I've Been, Yahoo!, Youweb and YouthNoise.