Viacom's Flux will support Google's OpenSocial

Flux, the social-networking initiative started by media giant Viacom, will officially support Google's OpenSocial standard. The developer site for Flux now says that OpenSocial implementation is "coming soon."

Flux, still in an early phase, was one of the few high-profile social networks that had not yet opted to partake in Google's developer standard. MySpace.com, Bebo, LinkedIn, and just about every other name in social media (except Facebook, which has opted to stick with its own developer platform, at least for now) had announced support for OpenSocial, and several have already invited developers to start hacking away. A source close to Flux told CNET News.com that Viacom had held off in part because of uncertainty over how secure the brand-new standard was in its earliest releases.

David Glazer, engineering director for OpenSocial at Google, said to CNET News.com on Thursday that version 0.6 of OpenSocial's application programming interface (API) specification contained large improvements over version 0.5, and that version 0.7, which was released to developers on February 6, contained additional incremental security upgrades.

Viacom first announced Flux in September as a platform for adding interoperable social-networking features to both Viacom-owned and external sites. Since then, it's been gradually rolled out to many MTV Networks (a subsidiary of Viacom) sites as the longtime pop culture influencer works to stay relevant in the digital age.