Never mind swine flu – it may in fact be time to start watching out for flying oinkers.  Social networking archrivals Facebook and MySpace are discussing the idea of sharing content, according to people at the highest levels of both organizations.

On Facebook’s side of things, Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s COO, told Emma Barnett, "Facebook is focussing on building the best technology which helps people share content, while at MySpace they are focussing on more a content-led strategy.  We would like to have their content, as we already do with many other sites, shared across our network because it is good for our users."

Then, sure enough, Owen Van Natta, the CEO of MySpace, also contributed a quote.  "We are in talks with Facebook, and other sites, about how we could partner with them," he said.  "Partnerships are going to be a big part of our strategy moving forward as a lot of value can be derived from them."

So, although nothing’s been agreed upon, this isn’t scuttlebutt being circulated by the mail guy and an intern.

In fact, this is a fairly major development that could be taken as weakness on either side’s part – either Facebook worrying that people will jump ship to MySpace, or MySpace thinking that this is its best chance to get eyeballs – but a properly implemented partnership should benefit everyone.

It’ll be interesting to see if Facebook and MySpace can set aside their competition for users long enough to pull it off.

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