MySpace, HP team on Web-based photo printing

NEW YORK -- Among all the profiles on MySpace, the social networking site's users have uploaded almost 4 billion photos. Now through an agreement with Hewlett-Packard, MySpace hopes people will increasingly print these images and, eventually, buy photo-embellished merchandise, too.

MySpace and HP said Tuesday that they are starting a business relationship that will put Web-based printing software from HP into the photo sections of MySpace.

This means MySpace pages will display HP-branded click-to-print buttons. The buttons are meant to make it easier for users to print content stored on their MySpace profiles — like photos and blog postings — than it would be to do so through their Web browsers.

The buttons are expected to appear in November on MySpace in the U.S., Australia, Western Europe and Canada. And in the following months, people will be able to buy things emblazoned with photos from the site, MySpace Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe said.

For example, bands with MySpace profiles might eventually set up their own online merchandise stores where people could choose photos they like and have them printed onto shirts through HP, he said.

"It's pretty powerful when you think we have over 5 million bands on MySpace," he said.

MySpace, part of News Corp., is not releasing financial details of the agreement.

Such partnerships may be worth trying because it has generally proven difficult for social networking sites to make money from advertising. MySpace does have a variety of large advertisers, but many analysts believe social network sites have barely tapped their potential for revenue, given that they have large audiences that spend lots of time on the sites.