Yahoo, Google and MySpace have formed a foundation to promote the OpenSocial platform as a neutral, community-governed specification for building social-networking applications, the companies announced Tuesday.

Yahoo's involvement in the project is new. Google launched OpenSocial in November to simplify the creation and adaptation of applications for social-networking sites via a common set of APIs. MySpace was among the first backers of the project.

The OpenSocial Foundation will be a nonprofit group, and the founders will assign assets to the new organization by July 1, the companies said. The foundation has a Web site, at OpenSocial.org, where developers and Web site owners can find the latest specifications, links to other resources and the opportunity to get involved.

Engineers from MySpace, Yahoo and Google will work with the OpenSocial community to further develop the specification, the companies said.

OpenSocial specifications are available under a Creative Commons copyright license. An open-source implementation called Shindig is being created and developed by the Apache Software Foundation.

"Yahoo believes in supporting community-driven industry specifications and expects that OpenSocial will fuel innovation and make the Web more relevant and more enjoyable to millions of users," Wade Chambers, Yahoo's vice president of platforms, said in a statement.

Steve Pearman, senior vice president of product strategy at MySpace, welcomed Yahoo's support of OpenSocial, calling the company an "important addition" to the project.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.