Google is all set to extend its dominance on the internet from search to web applications as AOL becomes the latest to pledge allegiance to its OpenSocial platform. With this announcement, Google added AOL to a growing roster of companies that includes MySpace, Hi5 and Yahoo. Of course, Google already has the in-house social networking site Orkut in this list.

OpenSocial is a set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) for web-based social network applications, developed by Google, and released on 1 November 2007. Applications implementing the OpenSocial APIs will be interoperable with any social network system that supports them.

Its main competitor is social networking site Facebook which pioneered the concept of third-party developers of web applications by making its platform available to them.

A web application is an application that is accessed via web browser over a network such as the internet or an intranet. It is also     a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language (such as HTML, JavaScript, Java, etc.)  and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.  Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain   Web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity. Common web applications  include Webmail, online retail sales, online auctions, wikis, discussion boards, etc.

AOL's allegiance to OpenSocial is not unexpected, especially after its acquisition of social networking site Bebo which was already an adherent (See: Media giant AOL grabs networking site Bebo for $850 million)

AOL will open up its myAOL service to the use of Google Gadgets to allow users to add the web-based applications to myAOL pages.

Desktop gadgets are interactive mini-applications that can be placed anywhere on the user's desktop – or docked in the Sidebar – to show new email, weather, photos, and personalized news. Google calls its versions as Google Gadgets.

"Gadgets will allow us to offer developers more opportunities to bring their ideas to myAOL, while keeping our users safer," said Eric Staats, principal software engineer at AOL.

"Additionally, Gadgets will make it easier for application developers to create new tools and widgets for myAOL that will also be available to AOL users across the web on any OpenSocial-enabled container."

AOL plans to roll out the Gadgets support on myAOL over the next few months, followed by eventual adoption of the Gadgets platform across all AOL services.