MySpace Inc., a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is trying to joint venture its way past Facebook Inc. in the race to provide millions of users with a universal Web identity. By partnering with Google Inc., MySpace wants to
create a more social Web, enabling its users to share information they gather while trolling other sites. For example, a MySpace user who visits a shopping site could log in with his MySpaceID, see what items on the site his friends had bought and publish his holiday wish list to his MySpace page, one report said.
Of course, Facebook isn't ceding this potentially profitable space to its rival. It has also unveiled a service to connect its users -- aptly named "Facebook Connect." The AP noted that by extending their networks on to other sites, Facebook and MySpace also could emerge as
more alluring marketing vehicles, particularly as they glean more information about the interests of individual users. The story also said Google is interested in tapping into the advertising potential of social networks, and MySpace already relies on Google to sell some of its ads, so the companies are natural allies.
In related news, MySpace announced it was
teaming up with Vodafone Group plc and Netvibes to use its MySpaceID service. "Six months ago we publicly launched the first solution to empower social networking users to take their identity around the Web," said Amit Kapur, COO of MySpace, in a statement. "Since then the developer community has been steadily rolling out new implementations to leverage this technology -- we've been listening to their feedback and enhancing the product along the way." -
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