Social networking site Bebo is likely to follow Facebook's lead and open up its site to developers to create applications that work within the site.
Chief executive Michael Birch signalled the move at the dotcom networking event Second Chance Tuesday. "It's a positive direction for social networking and I think you'll certainly see more and more of it across other social networks," he said.
"Obviously in social networks there's this conflicting thing of control, of being a closed network and us making all the money, and then opening up to the greater good of the social network.
"We're discussing how we best react to that. I think it's inevitable that it's going to continue down that road."
He said of Facebook's experiment: "I think it will be [a long-term success]. There's definitely teething issues. There's application overload and they're slightly Mickey Mouse at the moment. I think over time they'll become deeper."
Mr Birch speculated that social networks could be used to create reality TV programmes. "I've always been fascinated by the internet and I'm fascinated by reality TV, so how can you fuse those two together and make it an immersive experience where everyone on Bebo can be part of a reality TV show for the web?
"Rather than having 20 contestants you can have hundreds of thousands, millions of contestants on this show."
There has been constant speculation about a possible takeover of Bebo. Mr Birch said he was not looking to sell the site, but added: "It's probably not a business I'm going to hand down to my children.
"The best thing to aim for is to IPO. That means you continue influencing the business's future. I know there are lots of regulations around that but it allows you to exit and cash out but to continue fulfilling your vision for what it becomes."
