MySpace to Welcome Outside Widgets

MySpace will announce next week that it's making space for third-party developers, TechCrunch reports. Whispering began in June about the development of MySpace Platform, which will allow outside companies to create applications for the popular social-networking site. In a huge change, developers will also have a chance to include advertising with their wares—and keep the revenue.

The software can include Flash, iFrame and Javascript, so expect more bells and whistles on MySpace user pages. The less glitter-infested Facebook already has nearly 5,500 third-party applications, and Google previously announced plans to allow developers to build around its users’ social data, without limiting them to Google’s servers. Now they just need time for all that extra coding. (More MySpace stories.)