This is very interesting. A tipster (thanks, Doug!) pointed me to TheSpringBox, a new site that's testing widgets for MySpace, Tagworld, Blogger, Xanga, Multiply, Faces.com, Hoverspot, MOG, Friendster, Social21 and Bebo. That list is interesting for a few reasons: it's pretty much a summary of the social networks that have appeared on Mashable over the last few weeks, and Bebo doesn't even support external Flash widgets (they do allow VideoEgg and YouTube videos). But here's the really interesting part: scroll down to the bottom of the page, and you'll see this message:
TheSpringBox and TheSpringBox Logo are copyright© 2006 Fox Interactive Media
The homepage displays a Flash-based RSS reader, something that I've been looking for for many months. But the choice of feeds is also interesting: the developers have chosen geekier feeds like Digg, GigaOm and Mashable itself. Some of the widgets are promoting Fox channels - once again affirming the Fox connection. What's more, there's a screenshot of a desktop widget application that looks very similar to Konfabulator. Even more intriguing: visit the Tagworld link at the bottom and you'll see a MySpace.com branded widget.
The site is obviously brand new and not intended to be found - the registration links aren't live yet, for instance. But the idea that the owners of MySpace may want to corner the market for "MySpace Codes" is an interesting one - especially in light of Peter Chernin's comments that they want to beat out YouTube with MySpace Video, and build competing versions of the most popular MySpace add-ons. If they play it right, and stay open to outside developers, it could be a huge success - I'd love to hear more about their intentions.
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