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Promised back in October, MySpace's developer platform is scheduled to go live February 5.

Back in October, MySpace pledged to open its platform to developers, in part to encourage third parties to deploy widgets, games, and other social networking tools on the site, but also to help the 400-pound gorilla of the social networking world maintain its lead on rival Facebook, which has seen a tremendous surge in growth in the last year in part due to opening its platform to developers.

Now, MySpace is getting ready to make good on its promise, announcing that its developer program will go live February 5; interested parties can pre-register now. The developer tools will offer documentation for the MySpace platform, enable developers using Google's OpenSocial to wrap their applications into MySpace, and access an "Application Builder" that can install applications into live MySpace profiles. MySpace plans to roll out its developer program to 28 countries simultaneously.

As part of its strategy to encourage third-party developers, MySpace has also promoted 26 year-old Amit Kapur to COO, where his responsibilities will include expanding MySpace partnerships through the developer program. Kapur was MySpace's first business development exec when he joined MySpace in 2005, and launched MySpace Mobile through Cingular (now AT&T) and Helio, along with partnerships with Google and Skype.

"In only four years MySpace has become the largest and most dynamic social platform in the world," said Kapur in a statement. "This is a critical year in the evolution of the Internet and we'll be at the forefront—driving innovation and creating forwarding-thinking business models that foster a more personal, portable, and collaborative Web."

One of the ironies of the MySpace development platform hit home today: MySpace is is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., who's most recent acquisition is the Wall Street Journal. Today, the Wall Street Journal rolled out a new "SeenThis?" application enabling users to see which WSJ stories are popular amongst their social networking friends. The catch? The application runs on Facebook, not MySpace.