Mountain View, CA (AHN) - Internet giant Google announced Monday "Friend Connect," a service that essentially allows any Web site to behave like MySpace or Facebook.

Friend Connect permits like-minded Web users to connect and communicate on a multitude of sites, receiving alerts when a friend is online and exchanging e-mails. The service reportedly extends OpenSocial, a previously unveiled effort by Google to permit applications to run across various networks.

The new service follows similar moves by MySpace and Facebook last week. Facebook Connect permits users to export data to other sites. MySpace linked up with Yahoo, eBay, Twitter and Photobucket to port data.

Yahoo, the No. 2 search engine, has its own social strategy, that would allow data beyond the confines on one social-networking site.