MySpace enters Google territory

MySpace is taking on Google with the launch of a news service on its site. The social networking site, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, will display headlines from external news sites.

The service will scour the internet for news stories and let users vote on which ones receive the most exposure. It is part of MySpace’s ambitions to become a Web portal like Yahoo!

Publishers will be able to opt out the service if they do not want their stories appearing. The feature, which is expected to be launched as a “beta” test, uses technology developed by Newroo, which News Corp bought last year.

Google News launched in September 2002 offering access to 4,500 news sources from around the world. Headlines and photos are automatically selected and arranged by a computer program which updates the page continuously.

The free service lets users scan, search and browse, with links from each headline to the original story.

†