How Open Is Your Network? MySpaceID Gets Upgraded
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
The race to create the most "open" social network continues: MySpaceID has gotten some upgrades. The platform, which lets MySpace members take their IDs with them across the web, is MySpace's answer to Facebook Connect; the two networks launched their dueling "social graph" initiatives around the same time late last year and have been adding partners and functionality ever since. Facebook Connect currently has the edge in terms of third-party media partners, participants include Discovery.com, Digg, Citysearch and Hulu, among others; it also offers more functionality for developers. The MySpaceID enhancements that rolled out tonight are designed to level the playing field a bit.
More after the jump.
MySpace released a set of software development kits (SDKs) that make it easier for app developers to work with MySpaceID; the SDKs are being released in programming languages that are commonly used for Open Source projects like .Net, Ruby and Java, with a library for Google's Android mobile platform coming soon. In a demonstration of the functionality, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) will be integrating MySpaceID into its new homepage; the app will let users log into their MySpace profiles, check friends' statuses and upgrade their own while doing other activities on the Yahoo network.
The upgrades also prove that MySpace, like Facebook, has Twitter on the brain: MySpaceID now feeds members' actions through to other sites as part of a stream; the partner site can also filter the actions that show up so they're more relevant. A photo-sharing site, for example, can only pull in updates related to photo-tagging and uploads, while a music site can choose updates about users' playlists and favorite songs. This follows MySpace's overhaul of its status and mood updates in late February.
By Tameka Kee