MySpace teams up with Facebook to take on Ping

MySpace has teamed up with Facebook in a ground-breaking move to gain and keep users, in addition to countering the threat from Apple's new 'Ping' social network.

News Corporation owned MySpace and Facebook have announced 'Mashup with Facebook' this week to allow MySpace users to log into their Facebook accounts directly from their MySpace page.

This will allow users to port over their likes and interests from Facebook and then receive relevant streams of entertainment from MySpace dependent upon these likes and preferences.

The mashup is an updated version of MySpace Sync, which was announced back in August, and confirms reports that MySpace was planning a big link-up with its rival Facebook.

Complimentary services

"We feel this is a complementary service to Facebook," said MySpace chief exec Mike Jones.

"This new feature is a great illustration of our strategy around social entertainment and enabling the real-time stream."

Facebook's VP of partnerships Dan Rose said the sharing of info with MySpace "makes a lot of sense."

Rose adds: "Sharing entertainment and music interests is part of many of our friendships, online and off.

"MySpace is giving people an easy way to bring their favourite bands, celebrities and movies from Facebook to create a personalised experience on MySpace from the start."

Forrester Research analyst Augie Ray opined: "People have come to think of MySpace in a certain way and while I don't think this deal will help them attract a lot of users it is necessary that those people on the site enjoy the MySpace experience and I think this helps.

"This is also a good opportunity for Facebook to demonstrate that the information you have about yourself and about your friends belongs to you. In many respects this is about Facebook changing attitudes over ownership of data than anything else."

Five years left for Facebook?

Speaking at an Australian web conference this week, Dr Jeffrey Cole – who five years ago predicted the demise of MySpace – said that Facebook has around five years left.

"The same thing will happen to Facebook but it's going to take a lot longer," said Dr Cole, a director of the World Internet project.

"And it's not going to be replaced by one big social networking community but it's going to fragment."

That said, Facebook has gained more than 50 million new users in the past year according to online metrics firm comScore. Which means Facebook currently has 620 million users worldwide.

More than 33 million people in the UK use Facebook, according to the latest figures.

MySpace has just under 3 million UK users and 91 million users worldwide, making it the fourth biggest social network in the world right now.

Via BBC News