The long-awaited MySpace Developer Platform (aka “MDP“) rolled out a limited launch for developers today, and a number of AlphaGeek VIPs will be attending their exclusive launch party in SF tonight. If it’s anything like their party at the Web 2.0 conference last November, it should be a night to remember

More MDP info on TechCrunch and Mashable, other geek / web 2.0 blogs.

Big props to my buddy Allen Hurff over at MySpace, as well as Aber Whitcomb, Kyle Brinkman, Steve Pearman, Stephanie Bergman, and the rest of the MDP team. I know all those folks have been busting their butts for months to get this stuff out the door. Congrats to all of them, and to Ben Metcalfe who was helping MySpace get inside the heads of the developer community to deliver a great platform rollout & launch.

I’m looking forward to hearing more about MDP when MySpace Big Kahunas Amit Kapur (COO) and Jim Benedetto (VP Technology) give their keynote talks at Graphing Social Patterns in San Diego, March 3-4. Amit will be speaking about the business & marketing opportunities on the MySpace platform, and Jim will give a technical overview of MDP.

Guess i missed a few things while geeking out over at BarCamp Scotland in Edinburgh this past week. Aside from Steve Ballmer getting his Mojo back and jumping all over Jerry & Gang, here was some other news i missed from Facebook via Dave Morin:

The Facebook Platform Marketplace is here to help you…

get started by checking out the front page of the Facebook Developer application at:
http://facebook.com/developers

To find out more about what’s coming from Facebook, come to Graphing Social Patterns West next month in San Diego, and hear the latest Overview of Facebook Platform from Ben Ling, Director of Facebook Platform Product Marketing.

We’re just one month away from Graphing Social Patterns West (aka GSP West) in San Diego, March 3-4. If you’re looking for the latest business, marketing, & technical info on social networking platforms, we hope you’ll join us (register here & use discount code gspw08spbl to get 30% off).

Along with keynote presentations from Facebook, Google, MySpace, & Forrester Research, the conference schedule will feature the following business & technical topics & speakers:

Monday, 3/3 - Business Strategy & Social Marketing

The Future of Social Networks

• Charlene Li (Forrester Research)

MySpace Platform: Business & Marketing Overview

• Amit Kapur (MySpace)

Yahoo!’s MyBlogLog API: A Social Network Lookup Service

• Ian Kennedy (Yahoo!)

Bring Your Own Platform (BYOP): Build, Buy, or Borrow?

• Seth Sternberg (meebo)
• Jessica Alter (Bebo)
• Tariq Krim (NetVibes)

Viral Marketing on Facebook, MySpace, and the Widget Web

• Lance Tokuda (RockYou)

Social Networks & the NEED for FEEDS

• Sean Ammirati (mSpoke / ReadWriteWeb)
• Ian Kennedy (Yahoo!)
• Bret Taylor (FriendFeed)
• Kevin Marks (Google)
• David Recordon (Six Apart)

Your Business on Facebook: Facebook Marketing 101

• Rodney Rumford (FaceReviews.com)

Ten Million in Ten Weeks: What Stanford Learned Building Facebook Apps

• BJ Fogg (Stanford University)

Widget Strategies & Social Platforms

• Jeremiah Owyang (Forrester Research)
• Hooman Radfar (Clearspring)
• Jeff Nolan (NewsGator)

Privacy Management & Data Portability for Social Networks

• Dan Farber (CNET Networks)
• Joseph Smarr (Plaxo)

GSP & ETech Evening Events

• AppNite Demo Contest
• Ignite ETech
• Tim O’Reilly ETech Keynote
• Werewolf! AWOOOO!

Tuesday, 3/4 - Technical Strategy & Developer Apps

Technical Overview: MySpace Platform

• Jim Benedetto (MySpace)

Overview of Facebook Platform

• Benjamin Ling (Facebook)

Social Application Development 101: Elements of Style

• Jia Shen (RockYou)
• R. Tyler Ballance (Slide.com)

Introduction to OpenSocial Apps & Containers

• Patrick Chanezon (Google)
• Chris Chalk (Google)
• Kevin Marks (Google)
• Lou Moore (hi5 Networks)

Social Games for Social Platforms: Unleashing Viral Fun

• Jeremy Liew (Lightspeed Venture Patners)
• Shervin Pishevar (Social Gaming Network)
• Michael Lazerow (Buddy Media)

Designing Viral Apps: Engineering the Viral Loop

• Justin Smith (Inside Facebook)
• David Gentzel (SocialMedia)
• Blake Commagere (Mogad.com)
• Andrew Chen (Futuristic Play)

Driving Fanatic User Engagement & Addictive Retention

• Nick ONeill (Social Times)
• Mike Sego ((fluff)Friends)
• Keith Schacht (42 Friends LLC)
• Tim O’Shaughnessy (Hungry Machine)

Advertising & Monetization: Turning Apps into Dollars

• Jim Scheinman (Charles River Ventures)
• Seth Goldstein (SocialMedia.com)
• Scott Rafer (Lookery)

Getting Funded, Selling Out: Pipe Dreams or Big Bucks?

• Lee Lorenzen (Altura Ventures)
• Jason Beckerman (Teach The People, Dank Apps)

Additional Speakers (not yet scheduled)

• Adam Glazer, Google
• Chris Messina, Citizen Agency

ps - hope all of you attending Social Graph Foo Camp with Tim O’Reilly & friends up in Sebastopol this weekend are having a great time. I wasn’t able to join since i’m in the UK right now for BarCamp Scotland, but look forward to hearing / reading all about it as soon as i get back

I’m pleased to announce that early-bird registration is now open for Graphing Social Patterns “West” 2008, which is now an O’Reilly conference.  GSP West will be held in San Diego on March 3rd-4th, co-located with the O’Reilly ETech conference. We’re also working on GSP East, to be held in the Washington, DC area in early June.

Needless to say, I’m both honored & excited to be working with the O’Reilly team again. Many thanks to Tim, Gina, Brady & all the other awesome folks over there for helping put it together. It’s great to be doing GSP with old friends, and terrific to be part of the extended O’Reilly family. Onward & upward

–
Dave McClure, 500 Hats LLC
Program Chair, Graphing Social Patterns

Panel presentation on Facebook topics at Graphing Social Patterns conference. Moderated by Mike Arrington, TechCrunch; panelists include Robert Scoble / PodTech.net, Rodney Rumford / FaceReviews.com, Jason Calacanis / Mahalo, Dave McClure / 500 Hats.

Presentation by Danny Sullivan at Graphing Social Patterns. From Search to Social Search.

Presentation by Charlene Li, Forrester Research at Graphing Social Patterns. Big Brands & Facebook: Marketing Case Studies & Best Practices.

Panel discussion on Facebook Ad Networks & Distribution at the Graphing Social Patterns conference. Moderated by Jeremy Liew, Lightspeed Venture Capital; panelists include Joe Hurd, VideoEgg; Narendra Rocherolle; fbExchange, Yi-Fang Yen, AdBrite; Ro Choy, RockYou.

Panel discussion on social networking data portability, access & distribution of social graph data. Moderator Tantek Celik; panelists David Recordon / SixApart, Joseph Smarr / Plaxo, Ted Grubb / Satisfaction Unlimited, & Chamath Palihapitiya / Facebook.

Jia Shen, founder/CTO at RockYou, speaks about Facebook App Design: Elements of Style.