Check out the contest page for more information.

The single biggest addition, however, is the support for Avatars United applications. Avatars United applications are applications that can be embedded on avatar and group profiles, or run in full-screen mode using the full width of the website. Applications can access avatars’ profile data and list of friends allowing for a fun and social experience. They can also send Inbox messages and notifications, and post updates to Activity Feeds and the News Feed, facilitating the discovery of fresh content. Applications can also fetch data from remote servers, for mashing up the social graph with feeds and gaming APIs. All this allows for some really cool and engaging functionality which is made possible thanks to the Avatars United Developer Platform.

The Avatars United Developer Platform consists of APIs, tools and resources needed to build and run applications on Avatars United, more specifically:

• OpenSocial APIs: The APIs needed to access Avatars United’s social graph and messaging channels, and to communicate with remote servers. These include JavaScript APIs used on the website and web services needed for offline and server-to-server communication. The APIs are an implementation of the OpenSocial specification, an open standard for building social applications, used by some of the world’s major social networking websites.

• Avatars United OpenSocial extensions: Extensions to the standard OpenSocial APIs used for accessing data about Groups and Worlds, allowing for truly innovative OpenSocial applications.
• The Developer Website: On this site you can create and manage your applications and invite developers to participate in your project. In the near future, you will also have access to tools to test your applications and application metrics showing you how your applications are being used.
• A wiki: Here you will find all the information needed to get started building applications. This includes introduction guides, API documentation, tutorials, videos and links to other helpful resources. This knowledge base will grow as we continue documenting all aspects of the platform and expand its feature set.
• Forums: Discussion forums where you can get help and discuss application development.
• An issue tracker: As this service is still pretty new, it will probably need some polishing here and there. Report any errors or unexpected behaviors on our issue tracker.
• This blog: Here we will be posting updates, announcements and tips about the Avatars United Developer Platform.

This may seem like a lot to digest for seasoned developers and newbies alike. To get you acquainted with the different resources, we have created a small getting-started guide.

So start exploring and get coding your first Avatars United app!

PS. You can also catch up on the latest news by following us on Twitter.