Facebook Connect. Universal Internet Passport.

What is Facebook Connect? In short, this is a service provided by the social network Facebook, with which users can, using their username and password from FB, use other popular social sites.

More specifically, we have an updated version of the API, created specifically for social inclination sites that have nothing to do with Facebook. It was first announced on May 9 of this year, and it was presented as “the ability to connect your profile on the FB to any site that supports Connect”. It was also added that the sites themselves will be able to expand the functionality of Connect for their part, screwing up interesting and, possibly, useful functions. Among all the advantages of the service, four main ones could be distinguished:
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“Trusted” connection - the partners of the program undergo a special verification process, and therefore the user can not worry about his information by connecting via Connect on any site. At the same time, the system mechanism does not require constant data exchange between the servers of partners and Facebook.

Information about the user - the user himself decides how much he wants to "light up." You can show or hide your photo, name, list of friends, groups, photo albums, and so on.

For friends - at any time you can share the found information with friends, or invite them to read an interesting article. Developers will be able to add various widgets for Connect users to their sites - one of these widgets, for example, will allow you to find out which friends have already been noted on the site that you are currently viewing.

Privacy - creators guarantee the privacy of the user. All information that you do not want to put on display will remain hidden.

What will partners get from this function? About 160 million potential users who can lead an active life on the site without spending time on registration. Users' actions will be displayed in their news feed on Facebook, which will attract new visitors (for example, John booked a Facebook article on Habré). And most importantly, the “partners” get access to the Facebook user friendly list, which they can use for their marketing purposes.



You will no longer need to memorize 20 passwords, register 20 accounts and leave your data on 20 different sites.

In July of this year, the developers of Facebook during one of the IT conferences announced an incomplete list of project partners - this is Digg, Twitter, and many other popular websites (see photo below). Not all of the partners, however, specified the date of the installation of Connect to their sites. That is, it will be, but when we have a look. However, the guys from FB simply shone, and promised to expand the list of their partners.



A few months later, the launch date was announced - the choice fell on November 30, 2008. By that time, only two of the 26 project partners had fully integrated the system into their services - many wanted to look at the final version, while others were waiting for changes in the license agreement. The system itself, meanwhile, obsatatala additional functionality. It is worth mentioning FriendLink - a utility that allows you to promote the popularity of the site among your friends who do not yet know about it.

The launch of the system, as promised, took place on November 30 and the “battle of WebID to death” began. Already, many users have already experienced a new universal ID and at the moment everyone is very happy.

As you can see, Facebook Connect is the first attempt of FB to allow its users to use their accounts outside the social network. I was able to test the system in action in the comments of TechCrunch blog, and I was satisfied - everything works. The creators have already appreciated the surge in the number of comments and intend to expand the functionality of the system. While Connect is buggy in the sixth explorer. Sure, correct. For now we enjoy and actively develop our social life. :)