MySpace Updates Debut on Google Search Results

Source: MySpace.com

Google has begun integrating status updates and other publicly available content from people's MySpace profiles into its search results, marking the latest effort to remake search with a more social, real-time flavor.

MySpace content will be showcased in Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) search results under the "latest" or "update" filtering links that are available as options on the left side of the screen.

For Google, the integration continues its push to incorporate real-time information from social sites into its search results. The search giant already imports content from Twitter and Facebook's FriendFeed.

For MySpace, the tie-up with Google represents another distribution channel for the struggling social network, which has been working to rebuild itself as a hub for entertainment-oriented content, effectively conceding the popularity contest to rival Facebook.

"Empowering our audience to share, discover and showcase content – whether it's music, movies or games – is core to the MySpace experience," Mike Jones, MySpace's co-president, wrote in a blog post. "This partnership increases our users’ ability to share and showcase content across the open Web and gives people outside the MySpace network even more ways to discover new content."

Jones shares the top spot at the News Corp.-owned property with Jason Hirschhorn. The two executives assumed the co-presidency after CEO Owen Van Natta left the company last week.

The integration grew out of an API that MySpace developed in December to pump content from the social network out to third-party sites, broadcasting features like status and mood updates, photos and other material.

The Google integration makes any information that MySpace users have designated as publicly available accessible through Google's real-time search results. A search for the Olympics, for instance, might bring up blogs from MySpace users about the games, status updates, photos or other related content.

Google began its push toward real-time search results in December, when it unveiled a host of updates to its search page offering users an expanded set of filters to view up-to-the-second results from Twitter, news outlets and blogs, as well as location-based results and other features.

Rival Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has also been dipping its toe in the real-time waters, announcing its own data-sharing deal with Twitter hours before Google, and working with Facebook in a partnership that could bring people's public profile information to its search pages.

Kenneth Corbin is an associate editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.