Yahoo reportedly to join forces with Google's OpenSocial

According to a report in the New York Times, internet service provider Yahoo may soon be making headlines other than those about its attempts to fend off a takeover by Microsoft. It seems that in the next few days Yahoo may be announcing its new membership in Google's OpenSocial networking initiative.

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Launched on November 1st 2007, Google's project aims to publish APIs so that developers can write applications for all social networks that join the campaign. Current members include MySpace and Bebo. Facebook also jumped on the bandwagon in December by publishing its own APIs. It is clear, however, that a number of developers of Facebook applications also plan to publish these APIs for OpenSocial.

The report quotes an analyst from Forrester Research, who says that Yahoo's participation is crucial. After all, the internet service provider has the largest base of registered users worldwide. Yahoo has not commented on ensuing rumours that the firm is planning its own social network. Rather, Yahoo says that it can benefit from the applications developed, even without such a community.

(trk)