Van Natta was, as you may remember, Facebook’s COO for a while.  He served as CEO of MySpace for a relatively short period of time, as well.  So this move is perhaps a bit of a step down for him, title-wise.

Still, Van Natta has also joined Zynga’s board of directors, which isn’t such an un-prestigious shift.  And this development’s a potential indicator that big things are happening at the company as a whole.

Consider Van Natta’s employment history again.  Bringing him aboard in an official capacity, when he was just a consultant, could be a sign that Zynga wants some people with experience at big, in-the-spotlight organizations.

It could be a sign that Zynga is planning to go public, in other words.  Rumors on that subject have been circulating since at least last summer, although it would be a little odd to see Zynga take the leap before Facebook.

Anyway, a hat tip goes to Peter Kafka, who noted that Zynga named David Wehner CFO last month.

This series of developments comes as a big surprise.  Just one week ago, rumor had it that Hirschhorn might leave MySpace due to tension with Van Natta.  But according to Kara Swisher, News Corp. Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller then became involved, and after talking to all three men, wound up sacking the CEO.

So let’s discuss MySpace’s new co-presidents.  Before becoming MySpace’s chief product officer, Hirschhorn filled executive positions at both Sling Media and MTV.  Jones founded Userplane prior to becoming MySpace’s chief operating officer, and also worked for AOL following an acquisition.

Both men have done well at MySpace, too.  Miller stated with respect to Van Natta’s semi-replacements (remember the difference in titles), "Mike and Jason have demonstrated true leadership in their operational and product guidance, respectively, and I have the utmost confidence in both of them to lead MySpace into its next chapter."

Hirschhorn and Jones said, "We joined MySpace last April with very a specific set of goals in mind, and are anxious to continue working together to make those goals a reality.  This business is now pointed in the right direction, and we have a great team of employees that will continue to push MySpace closer to its potential as the place where people go to be discovered and to discover great content."

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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The call marked the first time Van Natta’s made a public statement since becoming CEO, and parts of it were very much scripted and by-the-numbers.  Take, for example, what Van Natta cited as the first of three reasons MySpace acquired iLike: a "relentless pursuit of innovation."

But reason number two – a "shared belief in open content distribution" – made for a more original sound bite.  And although the third reason (an interest in bringing world-class talent into all areas of MySpace) was basically a compliment aimed at iLike’s team, it led to the interesting remark that we should "expect to see continued news about great talent coming to MySpace."

As for some other facts, Van Natta emphasized that MySpace Inc. is making this acquisition separate from MySpace Music, while saying that "MySpace Music has been doing extremely well" and will be around for "years and years to come."

He also, with respect to any complications that could result from iLike’s ties to Facebook, said he thinks social networks will be "thrilled" that MySpace is "going to be making iLike an even richer experience within their environment."

Finally, we should report that Van Natta did not disclose any terms of the deal.

Now, MySpace has a new Chief Product Officer in Jason Hirschhorn. He has worked at both MTV and Sling, where he was in charge of development of Sling.com. Dan Frommer at SIA notes, "Hirschhorn is about as well-connected as you can get in the media business."

Van Natta served as Facebook’s chief operating officer and chief revenue officer for several years.  Before that, he spent even more time at Amazon.  Jones is the founder of Userplane, a video chat service that was acquired by AOL several years ago, PBJ Digital, and Investing.com. Last year, he started content publisher Tsavo Media, which is described as a site that delivers "highly relevant experiences to today’s digital consumers."

"Michael’s operational insight and knowledge of the social media market will prove to be a valuable asset as we set out to evolve the MySpace product offering,” said Jon Miller, Chief Digital Officer, News Corporation.  “From a product perspective, there’s no better choice than Jason, who is highly regarded as an incredibly talented innovator, media executive and leader, all qualities I know will greatly benefit our team and our users."

"We were attracted to Michael’s unique background in building and operating successful businesses that fall directly in our sweet spot, and I look forward to leveraging his skill set as we further refine and shape the MySpace vision," said  Van Natta. "Jason’s reputation for creating compelling consumer experiences that leverage the intersection of technology, design and media is unmatched and we’re excited to have him join us."

MySpace is still a huge site, but Facebook is growing much more rapidly. We all know people that have given up on MySpace and moved on to using just Facebook or Twitter or other networks.

Perhaps new leadership in Van Natta, Jones, and Hirschhorn will kick MySpace growth back into gear. The industry will be very interested in seeing what moves MySpace makes under its new leaders.

 Owen Van Natta

Van Natta served as Facebook’s chief operating officer and chief revenue officer for several years.  Before that, he spent even more time at Amazon.  Considering the amount of success those companies have encountered (admittedly, sometimes at MySpace’s expense), he should prove to be a real asset.

Van Natta’s likely to use his experience to make some big changes at MySpace.  It seems almost definite that DeWolfe was forced out, and so the new CEO will be expected to explore new directions.  He may become almost the social media equivalent of Carol Bartz, cutting projects, making layoffs, and generally keeping people on their toes.

One other big issue Van Natta will have to manage is a search deal with Google that’s set to expire in 2010.

Final confirmation of Van Natta’s installation is still lacking, so we can’t provide the standard PR quotes about how elated he is to join a terrific company, but the all of the formal stuff should be released later today.

Van Natta’s departure doesn’t appear to be remotely as troubling as those of the Yahoo employees, however.  Typical smile-for-the-camera faces aside, Facebook and Van Natta still seem to be on good terms.

A Facebook spokeswoman told Vauhini Vara that Van Natta has been "instrumental in building out the core infrastructure of the company and has been key to building Facebook’s Microsoft relationship.  He also recruited some great executives in sales and business development and has been an influential part of the management team."

In the future, Van Natta will attempt to become the influential supervisor of a management team; he has expressed a desire to become a CEO.  Since no further specifics were given, secrecy or a lack of direction may come into play at this point, but as a successful Facebook exec, Van Natta shouldn’t have trouble getting a job.

Facebook, by the way, has not yet named a new chief revenue officer and vice president of operations.

Don’t feel too bad for the guy – he probably still makes more in a month than most of us earn in a year.  Also, it’s not like he was even replaced; BoomTown’s Kara Swisher reports, “Van Natta now shares power – how uneasily it remains to be seen – with newly installed Vice President of Marketing and Operations Chamath Palihapitiya . . . longtime exec Matt Cohler, vice president of strategy and business operations . . . newly installed CFO Gideon Yu . . . co-founder and Vice President of Product Engineering Dustin Moskovitz; and CTO Adam D’Angelo.”

The title change is nonetheless being viewed as a demotion, however, since “second in command” is not on par with “one of six lieutenants.”

Why the downgrade, then?  Facebook’s denying that this is anything of the sort, so there’s no official explanation.  As for the “move” – the neutral or even positive “move” – paidContent.org’s Staci D. Kramer describes it as “an expansion of the management team as [Facebook] hovers between well-funded, fast-growing startup, acquisition target and possible mega IPO.”

One has to wonder how many more of these expansions we’ll see as whatever’s happening comes to a head.