15. A method comprising: configuring a distributed database with items of data, the distributed database storing information of a social networking system describing a plurality of existing users; configuring a scripting language to extract data from the social networking system, the data extraction applying access control comprising privacy settings of each user of the social networking system, the privacy settings restricting the information about the user that is accessible to other users of the social networking system; and configuring a structured query language interface configured to access database systems to receive a query requesting information from the social networking system over a network, to send the query to the scripting language, and to receive extracted data from the scripting language comprising the requested information subject to the privacy settings of users of the social networking system in response to the query adding, by the social networking system, to the distributed database a new field or category of data to the plurality of existing users, the new field or category of data representing an attribute describing each user of the plurality of existing users and storing data directly received from one or more users of the social networking system rather than data derived from one or more existing fields of data; receiving a request from an application or website maintained by a third party separate from the social networking system, the request identifying the new field or category of data; generating a response to the request, the response comprising the new field or category of data; determining a format for the response to accommodate a database of the third party; converting the response comprising the new field or category of data into the determined format; and providing the response in the determined format to the third party.
15. A method comprising: configuring a distributed database with items of data, the distributed database storing information of a social networking system describing a plurality of existing users; configuring a scripting language to extract data from the social networking system, the data extraction applying access control comprising privacy settings of each user of the social networking system, the privacy settings restricting the information about the user that is accessible to other users of the social networking system; and configuring a structured query language interface configured to access database systems to receive a query requesting information from the social networking system over a network, to send the query to the scripting language, and to receive extracted data from the scripting language comprising the requested information subject to the privacy settings of users of the social networking system in response to the query adding, by the social networking system, to the distributed database a new field or category of data to the plurality of existing users, the new field or category of data representing an attribute describing each user of the plurality of existing users and storing data directly received from one or more users of the social networking system rather than data derived from one or more existing fields of data; receiving a request from an application or website maintained by a third party separate from the social networking system, the request identifying the new field or category of data; generating a response to the request, the response comprising the new field or category of data; determining a format for the response to accommodate a database of the third party; converting the response comprising the new field or category of data into the determined format; and providing the response in the determined format to the third party. 18. The method of claim 15 , the method further comprising: configuring the structured query language interface to send some or all of the extracted data over the network to the application or a web site maintained by a third-party developer.