title: Open Stream API
body: <p>I am wondering if there is a common mechanism for a third-party side to access to any social network data, and I found this <a href="http://www.pintrestalk.com/ddata/2090.pdf" rel="nofollow">social-networks connect services</a>. In this article, they describe 4 stages for a third party to connect to a social network.</p>
  
  <p>1) <strong>Identity Authentication:</strong> the third-party application can use the authentication services provided by social network side (e.g., OAuth) to authenticate users.</p>
  
  <p>2) <strong>Authorization:</strong> the social network provide the permission for the third-party side to access its own data. (normally, social networks again use OAuth to manage the access right)</p>
  
  <p>3) <strong>Streams:</strong> let third-party sites publish to users' activity stream and vice versa. (e.g., <strong>Facebook uses Open Stream API</strong>)</p>
  
  <p>4) <strong>Applications:</strong> let third-party sites develop rich social features within the application scope (e.g., the third-party sides can use Graph API, FQL to update Facebook information)</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><em><strong>My question is</em></strong></p>
  
  <p>1) Is it true to apply to any social network throughout this above mechanism?</p>
  
  <p>2) I've read the Open Stream API that Facebook launched 3 years ago, and when I open Facebook API documents, I don't see it anymore. Is it true that Facebook is no longer supporting this api. Or in the case I misunderstood, is it possible to consider FQL, Graph API the same as Open Stream API in Facebook? or they are different?</p>