Ning adds Google OpenSocial support to its social networks

Social network platform provider Ning Inc. - the brainchild of Netscape founder Marc Andreessen - Friday announced that it is adding support for the OpenSocial standard to the more than 500,000 social networks created by its users.

The OpenSocial initiative was launched by Google Inc. and MySpace in November to create APIs that developers can use to build applications that can run across multiple social networks and other Web sites.

The OpenSocial support allows new applications like file sharing, poll creation and e-commerce to be added to social networks created on Ning, the company noted in a blog post . Ning added that 30 OpenSocial applications are available on the site.

The OpenSocial directory on each Ning network will automatically inherit the branding and visual design of that network, Ning said. Also, OpenSocial applications can inherit the visual style of the member profile page to which they are added.

Ning also said that OpenSocial applications can automatically be integrated into a social network's viral features. Thus, an OpenSocial application could add updates to their members' latest activity feed and send messages on behalf of a member.

Frederic Lardinois, a blogger at Read Write Web, noted that Ning joins a growing number of social networks that support OpenSocial, including MySpace, hi5, Orkut and Bebo.

"For developers, supporting OpenSocial makes good sense, as they can reach a far larger audience with an OpenSocial application than if they just programmed for a given network's own APIs," he added. "The only holdout [from] supporting OpenSocial is Facebook." However, Lardinois did note that Facebook is "considering the option of opening up its development platform to other social networks in the future."