MySpace offers opt-in data sharing

MySpace users can opt to share their profile information with partner sites

MySpace has launched a data-sharing project in which the social networking site will open up its code to partner sites Photobucket, Twitter, eBay and Yahoo.

The MySpace Data Availability Initiative will involve the creation of a new section of the site which will manage the data sharing.

Users will access the system and share data on an 'opt-in' basis, meaning that only information which the user has chosen to share will be viewable by others.

The information will then be available for use on other sites, allowing users to display MySpace profile information along with photos and video files on other participating sites.

All user data will remain hosted on MySpace, allowing the information to be updated as users change their profile information.

"The walls around the garden are coming down, and the implementation of Data Availability injects a new layer of social activity and creates a more dynamic internet," said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive and co-founder of MySpace.

The move is designed to complement Yahoo's open strategy initiative, in which the company offered to open its own applications to outside developers. The two sites are also working together as part of the OpenSocial project.

"Yahoo believes in an open internet that gives users the flexibility to make their web experiences as relevant, social and personalised as they can," said Ash Patel, executive vice president of platforms at Yahoo.