Facebook Connect is a service that allows users to login to any website that implements this technology using their Facebook credentials. Doing this, they can "bring" their connections virtually in any context, connect their actions with Facebook even if they're outside it and login without having to register to a new website.
It's one of the first technologies that makes the "Portable User" concept work effectively.
Earlier this week Facebook Connect reached 40 million accesses in one month in the US.
It quite an amazing result, and we can try to figure out the reasons behind this success:
- It's easy: users just need to type in their e-mail and password and they'll be connected to Facebook virtually in any websites. If they're already logged in Facebook they don't even need to type anything. Consider that a half of Facebook active users logs in daily, so they really know their credentials well and they don't need to create and remember new ones for a new website;
- It's trusted: Facebook has a great brand awareness. Feeling like you're logging to a Social Network you trust allows you not to worry about how their data will be used;
- It's quick: there's no need to type in any additional information;
- It's self-spreading: the connection with Facebook makes this possible: the user's friends are more likely to be involved in something they know their friend has done. And they know it from Facebook, from the news feed (e.g.)
- It's the first: technology that allows users to be "Portable" that has a wide adoption base: potentially the whole Facebook user database. Today no other "User Portability" technology can claim such a number of subscribed users.
These are the main reasons Facebook is succeeding so far.
It's the success of "User Portability" and not only of Facebook Connect.
The success is so strong that not only "Social" businesses are trying to implement it as quick as possible, but it's spreading also between other kinds of industries. This really caught my attention: federating user data will be a great way to get aggregated data and optimize services without having to attack the user's privacy. Businessweek published an interesting article about it a few days ago: "What the Smart Grid Can Learn From Facebook Connect - Federating energy-saving applications could provide more secure privacy for consumers than aggregating them in the data flood that impends". It's an interesting view on the power of "User Portability" even outside of what we usually call Social Media.
It no more just about Social "Media", the context we are dealing with is shifting to Social "Services" and "Products".
What's your take? Are you experiencing user portability in your everyday life?
2 comments. Post your comment:
Interesting. Could the portable user model extend to other industries or other applications than the smart grid?
I think it could potentially extend to any industries that deals with data handling and CRM, from Health Care to Fast Moving Goods. The Smart Grid is just an example. A very excellent one, though.
If you need more details about the Smart Grid, take a look ad IBM's A Smarter Planet initiative. http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/smartplanet/index.shtml
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