The OpenSocial initiative effectively makes Google a clearinghouse for social networking applications.
Google, along with MySpace and others in the social networking space, hope the intitiative will put the brakes on the phenomenal growth of competitor Facebook, which opened its service to third-party developers five months ago.
In following the Facebook lead, MySpace says the announcement underscores the company’s “commitment to supporting standards that foster innovation.”
“Our partnership with Google allows developers to gain massive distribution without unnecessary specialized development for every platform,” MySpace chief executive and co-founder Chris DeWolfe said.
“This is about helping the start-up spend more time building a great product rather than rebuilding it for every social network,” he said.
Global members of the OpenSocial community include Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.
The companies hope the platform will attract third-party developers to their sites.
“As the most trafficked website in the country and the most popular social network in the world, MySpace is one of the leading forces in the global social Web,” said Google chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt.
“We’re thrilled to grow our strategic relationship with MySpace by joining forces on this important initiative.”
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