Google's OpenSocial platform got a major shot in the arm late Thursday with news that MySpace had agreed to help the search giant standardize and simplify social applications across the internet.

"Our partnership with Google allows developers to gain massive distribution without unnecessary specialized development for every platform," said Chris DeWolfe, CEO and co-founder of MySpace. "This is about helping the start-up spend more time building a great product rather than rebuilding it for every social network. We're pleased to collaborate with Google to establish a landmark standard for social applications."

MySpace joins Orkut, Friendster, Ning and LinkedIn as allies in Google's OpenSocial, which was announced earlier this week.