MySpace lets users share their profiles with other sites

MySpace, the most popular social networking site on Thursday outlined a data-sharing program under which its users will be able to share their profiles, photos and friends on other Web sites.

To launch the data-sharing project the social networking site has partnered with major Websites operated by Photobucket, Twitter, eBay and Yahoo who have a total of 150 million users and reach 85 percent of the Internet market in the United States.

Owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., MySpace is the world's largest social networking site, with 117 million members in more than 20 countries. This most widely-known lifestyle portal allows users to create online profiles with photos, music, and personal information, including hometowns and education. Company's policy prevents children under 14 from setting up profiles, but it relies on users to specify their ages.

The project, MySpace Data Availability effort, aims to allow MySpace members share their public profile data outside of the walls of the social-networking site. For which, a new section will be created on the site which will manage the data sharing.

"Today, MySpace no longer operates as an autonomous island on the Internet, by allowing the data that creates the engaging and collaborative experience that is MySpace to now be shared across all the sites our users visit," said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive and co-founder of MySpace. "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.”

MySpace users can carry their data, content and connections from one site to another, instead of having to re-enter all that information again. For instance, users can carry their MySpace content including their interests such as favorite movies and music, and their network of friends to a new site with the click of a button rather than re-writing that information again.

Moreover, if they want to update their MySpace profile, they can do it once and have it automatically updated elsewhere as well.

Users will be able to share data on an 'opt-in' basis, meaning they will be free to decide where they want to share their information and that only information which the user has chosen to share will be viewable by others.

"The initiative is founded first and foremost on allowing users to have comprehensive control over their own content and data. Users will have complete control over what information they share and who they share it with," said MySpace Chief Operating Officer Amit Kapur.

MySpace said it will make this functionality available in the next several weeks.