Business network XING has launched beta versions of its first OpenSocial applications – XING News and Ask XING.

The beta version of XING News is a social news service that enables XING members to share news from a number of sources filtered by the XING community and their own XING contacts and also allows users to provide comment on and rate individual news items..

Ask XING permits members to ask questions and get answers by tapping into the collective pool of expertise of the XING community.

Jason Goldberg, chief product officer at XING, says: “OpenSocial allows us to utilise the significant potential of external partners at speed. This brings immediate benefits for our members as they gain access to valuable tools, content, and services in a wide range of product categories. We are already working with several international partners on integrating more applications, which will launch on the platform in the very near future.”