Within about a month, MySpace (NYSE:NWS-A) users will be able to share their profiles or and personal information on any Web site. As traffic on the site slows down, this would give the social networking site a chance to expand beyond a sole destination on the Web.
"Today, MySpace no longer operates as an autonomous island on the Internet," said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive and co-founder of the site. "We're hoping to create a significantly more social experience across the Web."
In April traffic to the site dropped by 16 percent over the same month a year ago, according to Hitwise, although it still accounts for close to three-quarters of all social networking traffic in the U.S.
How it will work is MySpace users will be able to use a central privacy control panel, where they will be able to decide which information they're willing to share with others and which specific sites they want to share it with.
Larger sites will probably use OAuth, while smaller sites and bloggers will be provided with Javascript code to embed in their web pages by MySpace. The process will be a basic cut and paste method, making it simple and easy to use. Users can stop sharing their information any time they want, because it will stay with MySpace and not allowed to be stored or cached on other Web sites.
The embedded button will take users to the central control panel where they can decide which information to share, which in the beginning will include photos, videos, friends networks and basic information in their profile.
Some already joining the iniative are eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY), Twitter, Photobucket and Yahoo (NSDQ:YHOO).
What is this all about? Creating something so useful to users that they'll pressure other Web sites to include it as one of their services. It's something to consider when looking at our marketing and growth strategies. MySpace should enjoy some growth from people visiting their central control panel via other Web sites.
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