AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Yahoo Joins ‘OpenSocial’ Initiative - The Wall Street Journal

Yahoo Inc. is joining an effort backed by Google Inc. and News Corp.’s MySpace to spur the creation of applications for social networks, a small but growing area of interest among software developers.

Yahoo said Tuesday it will endorse a technical specification called OpenSocial that was initiated by Google and supported by MySpace and other social networking sites, a sign that the initiative is gaining momentum after a slow start last fall. Yahoo, Google and MySpace also said they’re planning an independent nonprofit foundation that would provide technology and intellectual property guidelines for the evolving standard, while making sure no one company has too much influence over its future.

Yahoo’s move could pressure holdouts like Facebook Inc., which has stuck to its own software standards for developers, to join OpenSocial. Facebook, whose investors include Microsoft Corp., has indicated a willingness to license its standards to other sites. Microsoft also hasn’t joined OpenSocial.

MySpace and Google’s social network Orkut have both recently launched developer platforms compatible with OpenSocial. But Facebook, whose platform was announced last May, has a head start and already offers some 20,000 applications to its users. MySpace owner News Corp. also owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

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