While MySpace is the top dog in the world of social networking, Facebook remains a hungry competitor.  For some time now, Facebook's proponents have pointed to its useful interfaces to sites such as Livejournal and Photobucket as a superior feature.  Facebook even could import MySpace user profiles using its applications.  The net result -- users could save the trouble of having to type and/or upload data in two places at once.

MySpace, on the other hand, has long been unwilling to share with other networks.  While it has had some partnerships, it’s been fearful of sharing its information, both out of security concerns and out of concern that it might risk damaging its dominant position.

However, all that is coming to an end, with MySpace embarking on a massive "data availability" project, which promises to shake up the online landscape a bit.  Among partners who MySpace will be jointly integrating and sharing data with are Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket, and Twitter. 

Says MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, "The walls around the garden are coming down—the implementation of Data Availability injects a new layer of social activity and creates a more dynamic Internet.  We, alongside our Data Availability launch partners, are pioneering a new way for the global community to integrate their social experiences Web-wide."

The new policy allows users to share their info with any website of their choice.  Among the items users can share are photos, video, public profile information, friends' lists and text.  By doing so, MySpace says it, "throws open the doors to traditionally closed networks by putting users in the driver's seat of their data and web identity."

Chief operating officer Amit Kapur lauds, "This is an unprecedented move to further socialize the web and empower users to control their online content and data."

Dewolfe is encouraging other sites to join it in its project.  He says everyone from "mom and pop" startups to its chief rival Facebook is welcome to join.  He states, "This project is open to any site out there that wants to work with us. We are happy to work with Facebook if they want to join up with our effort."

Such a partnership would indeed prove intriguing due to its ramifications on internet traffic.  Together MySpace and Facebook have 150 million users and reach approximately 85 percent of U.S. internet users. 

MySpace's move comes as it is in the midst of a bit of a slump.  Its traffic fell 16 percent in April, compared to April of last year.  Still, it can take comfort that net statistics compiler Hitwise says that it received 74 percent of social networking traffic in the U.S., indicating the entire social network market may be suffering.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is enthusiastic about the new initiative, saying it will help users share their Twitter posts with a greater audience.  Stone states, "Finding friends to follow is central to Twitter's value as a real-time communication utility.  This project enhances discovery and connectivity making Twitter more relevant and useful."

Yahoo users will be excited to know that tie-ins to Yahoo Mail and Yahoo IM are expected to be developed.

Those interested in the technical side of the implementation of the new initiative will be interested to know that it uses OAuth, an open protocol tool.  By using open standards, MySpace says it hopes to make the implementation as non-proprietary as possible.  MySpace is also joining the Data Portability Project, a project championed by many online groups including Yahoo, which aims to make sure data on the internet is open and able to be shared.

One possible trouble spot for MySpace may be privacy concerns.  A key challenge is to share information, but to not share too much, or allow it to be shared in ways that violate user privacy.  Competitor Facebook learned this the hard way when it was blasted for what it felt was a clever feature -- share user's purchase during off-site shopping at partners.  The debacle ended with Facebook scaling back the feature and its CEO being forced to make a public apology.

The changes to MySpace will be rolled out over the course of next week to its millions of users.  It should be interesting to see whether MySpace's major initiative makes the site the center of user's internet data storage, as it hopes, or if it brings on new problems.