MySpace, Facebook and Google are all in the early stages of a data portability war, with each company working on making itself a centralized hub for data, connecting a user's multiple accounts and profiles across the web.
MySpace, which announced its initiative in May, has beaten the other two web giants to the punch with the official launch of its product, known simply as Data Availability. MySpace users can now share the information on their MySpace profiles on sites such as Twitter and Photobucket with a few clicks.
Third-party developers will also have access to MySpace's external data APIs, allowing them to create applications that offer data portability to independent websites, according to a post on the MySpace developer blog.
Data Availability will work on a strict opt-in basis, according to the company, and users have the option of sharing all or some of their information, which they control through a dashboard on the MySpace website. Third-party sites are forbidden from storing any user data.
Meanwhile, MySpace's competitors have yet to unveil their products. TechCrunch speculates that Facebook will unveil its foray into data portability, Facebook Connect, during its F8 conference in July, and Google's Friend Connect is still in testing.
Facebook and Google already engaged in a brief war of words when Facebook opted out of Google's Friend Connect based on privacy concerns.
