TechCrunch has news that Facebook and Google have joined the DataPortability Workgroup.

The DataPortability Workgroup is actively working to create the ‘DataPortability Reference Design’ to document the best practices for integrating existing open standards and protocols for maximum interoperability (and here’s the key area) to allow users to access their friends and media across all the applications, social networking sites and widgets that implement the design into their systems.

It is an important step that Facebook has entered the conversation, but until there is an “export” tab in my Facebook profile, I’ll remain a bit skeptical.

On the other hand, if the major social network and online media / search sites adopt a common social graph standard, the fun really starts. Porting profile and friends from network to network is a problem with limited scope… frankly, not very exciting. What I find *really* exciting is the possibility of being able to port and mashup content, reputation and recommendations from multiple sources.

Regardless, this is an important first step to the “majors” at the table.

What do you think? Especially the folks who host communities for their organizations: How does this impact you?