Search giant Google has appointed Brad Fitzpatrick as its representative to the social networking interoperability initiative DataPortability.org, which said Joseph Smarr from Plaxo and Benjamin Ling from Facebook will also represent their companies in the DataPortability Workgroup.
The workgroup is an initiative to create a data portability reference design that will document the best practices across networking sites to integrate open standards and protocols for maximum interoperability. It aims to enable users to access content across all applications, social networking sites, and widgets.
Their joint support of the DataPortability initiative presents a new opportunity for the next generation of software – particularly in the fields of social software, user rights, and interoperability, said the group.
The announcement comes after popular blogger Robert Scoble was banned from Facebook earlier this month for using a script from Plaxo to collect data from his friends Facebook profiles.
While Google has launched the OpenSocial initiative for developers to create applications using a common markup language compatible among all participating social networks, it has not indicated whether it would include any data sharing between services.
