Yahoo joins MySpace and Google in backing OpenSocial

Yahoo have now joined the ranks of MySpace and Google in backing the OpenSocial platform as the standard specification for building social networking applications.

In a statement yesterday, Yahoo said: “Yahoo believes in supporting community-driven industry specifications and expects that OpenSocial will fuel innovation and make the Web more relevant and more enjoyable to millions of users.”

OpenSocial was launched in November 2007 by Google in a bid to simplify the creation of applications on social networking sites. This is done through using a standard set of APIs. MySpace backed the project almost immediately.

The OpenSocial platform will be run by a new non-profit organisation, the OpenSocial Foundation. At the Foundation’s website, opensocial.org, website owners and developers can check up on the current specifications for social networking applications.

An open-source implementation of the OpenSocial specifications is being developed by the Apache Software Foundation, and has been named Shindig.