Today Google will announce the details of Open Social (link should be live in a few hours) a set of web API's that will let developers write applications that plug into any participating social network (launch partners include Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Flixter, Friendster, Orkut, and others).

This announcement effectively does for the web what FaceBook's API platform did for their single social network, allowing developers to tap into:

• Profile Information (user data)
  
• Friends Information (social graph)
  
• Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)
  

This announcement is huge for anyone that is currently developing a strategy for how your organization should leverage Social Networks. Jim Cashel recently noted in his Influence post, The Rise of Social Media that social networks are powerful web communications allies that every organization should be using. He challenges organizations to start now to formulate their strategies for reaching into these social networks to connect with their users. Well, smart organizations now have a technical tool at their disposal that will let a forward thinking strategy become real across many networks in short order.

Taken in conjunction with the recent API announcements from leading nonprofit eCRM vendors (Convio and Kintera), you can now realistically envision creating a single social networking application that integrates directly with your organization's CRM and plugs seamlessly into any Open Social participating network.