Yahoo joins Google's OpenSocial, Foundation

Yahoo today said it would both join Google's OpenSocial and that it would help found the OpenSocial Foundation, a new collaboration that involves Google as well as MySpace. The move would see Yahoo ensure that any social networking elements it develops can be ported between any OpenSocial-based social network and that the platform will be protected in the future. The Foundation will ensure that OpenSocial remains neutral and dictated by the public rather than controlled by any one company, according to its launch partners.

The new organization is due to launch on or before the start of July and will also help maintain the longevity of the OpenSocial concept, which is targeted at users who want to port information such as friends and personal media collections between competing networks without losing information.

The establishment of the Foundation with Yahoo's involvement may further isolate Facebook and Microsoft. While the former has been open to the possibility of its social network being made OpenSocial-capable, it remains the largest network not yet signed to the new platform. In turn, Microsoft would become an inadvertent supporter of its rival Google through a successful Yahoo bid. Microsoft has also recently invested in Facebook and would at least initially be acting against its own interests.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace, OpenSocial