The initiative aims to break down the barriers between rival social networks and establish a standard set of applications to work across all the sites. Separately, Google is to expand into the mobile market with the launch of a software operating system called Android, which will be backed by a 34-strong global alliance of mobile and technology companies. T-Mobile, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, LG and China Mobile are among the businesses to sign up to the system, which will allow wireless operators and manufacturers to develop new applications - including Google search for mobiles - that will be compatible across all handsets.
The Week: Media News - MySpace joins OpenSocial
Google has signed up the News Corporation-owned MySpace, Bebo and Xing as partners for its new cross-platform project OpenSocial.