Facebook and Flash

Hot on the heels of the MySpace and Silverlight partnership, comes Facebook’s partnership with Adobe (via TechCrunch).

Called the ‘ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform’ (and I thought Microsoft had boring names!), the API allows developers to build applications that connect the social aspects of Facebook into the Flash interface.

Its important to note that these applications (or ‘rich Flash experiences’ as the site refers to them) can be in Facebook applications, as well as desktop applications. Yes, don’t miss that last part – desktop apps (see here for more details on the Adobe DevNet). Facebook is about to jump out of the browser in a very meaningful way, as opposed to just the minimal interaction that some of the existing desktop apps allow you to update (eg status).

This is a significant announcement, and one that opens up a number of opportunities.

In some ways the concept isn’t new, since the ability to mix Flash and Facebook has been available for a while. What is different is that it is now getting official support and will be actively encouraged by both companies (as well as having a ton of new functionality in this release).

Here’s the line from the Facebook developer page:

With Flash and Facebook, you can extend rich Internet experiences across the Web to become social. New ideas may include the next generation of social games, seeing friends sharing and commenting on video or music streamed through Flash, or manipulating photos of yourself and your friends.

The ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform API is available for download here.