Techcrunch is reporting tips that Facebook will make its platform open source soon, maybe even this week. After cutting off Google’s Friend Connect for profile privacy reasons, Zuckerberg now could be embracing a future of social networking which will rely on a cooperative approach, allowing other sites to benefit from Facebook’s very popular platform.

Michael Arrington writes:
“If they mirror the Open Social approach, third parties will be free to change the Facebook Platform components for their own use and deploy them on their own sites. To have those changes be incorporated into the official versions of Facebook Platform, however, would require Facebook’s approval.”

It goes without saying, the pressure is on Facebook to compete with the Google alliance with Yahoo and MySpace in OpenSocial.

But after the strong outcry over Beacon (an in-house development) from the Facebook community, users might be nervous about what exactly is 'open.' It's not inconceivable that user information may be transfered between any number of exterior networks as other sites begin to take advantage of the platform. The comming days may show how Zuckerberg’s stated dedication to privacy will balance with helping the company finally turn a profit.

More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:

• Prediction: Facebook goes open source
• Prediction: Google invests $1 billion in Facebook
• Larry Borsato: Nine Lessons from the first internet bubble