Facebook and Myspace finally friend one another

Mike Isaac

SOCIAL MEDIUM

Nov. 18 2010 - 1:00 pm

Facebook and Myspace finally friend one another

Well, it’s official – Facebook and Myspace have kissed and made up.

Or, depending on how you look at it, Myspace has finally “surrendered” to the big, bad, blue and white social giant.

Either way, Thursday’s announcement from Myspace CEO Mike Jones and Facebook VP of Partnerships Dan Rose has been a long time coming.

“Mashup with Facebook” – the official name for the collaboration between the two longtime competitors – lets Myspace users import all of their Facebook likes and interests into their “personalized content stream.”

In other words, Facebook’s Connect product – the platform that allows a Facebook user to integrate their profile specs and info into outside pages – has ‘officially’ come to Myspace. The full integration is being rolled out globally today, and incorporation of Facebook’s “Like” buttons on Myspace content pages is forthcoming.

Interestingly enough, the Facebook Connect ability is going to be “implemented from the homepage of Myspace”, says Myspace CEO Mike Jones, with the “function located within the signup and login box.” It’s a questionable move – branding the front page of Myspace’s site with a Facebook logo – but it’s a signal that Myspace doesn’t want to compete directly with the social giant anymore.

“Myspace is a leading social entertainment destination,” Jones said multiple times during the call, rehashing the signal the company tried to send to the press during it’s redesign launch in October – the company’s “core mission is curation,” Jones said. “We want to become the leading social entertainment destination,” Jones said in another interview with me in October. “connecting users to content that defines different entertainment tastes. We’re not a social network.”

Since the company launched “Sync with Facebook” a few months ago – which let Myspace users sync their flowing content stream on their Myspace page with that of their Facebook feed, Jones said Myspace integrated 1 million new users as a result.

But “Mashup with Facebook” is apparently different . It’s “about connecting content you like on Facebook to Myspace and having the ability to experience new recommended content,” a Myspace spokesperson told me. “This feature builds on Sync with Facebook to offer a richer and more real-time Stream.”

So, is it integration, or is it surrender?

Jones (obviously) says the former: “Myspace is committed to a new strategy,” positioning his site as a “complimentary offering to Facebook and other social platforms.” Jones clarified that there’s “no financial component to this partnership.”

Bottom line for Jones, and for Myspace: It’s about entertainment curation, not social media market dominance. With this rollout we’ll see if traffic numbers respond accordingly.

Below are a few screen shots on what the integration will look like: