openid vs facebook connect vs friendconnect
DESCRIPTION
Quickly examine the difference of OpenID, FacebookConnect and Google's FriendConnect. What are the Pro's and Con's and which if not all should you use?TRANSCRIPT
OpenID vs.Facebook Connect vs.
Friend Connect W h a t ’ s T h e D i f f e r e n c e ?
D e r e k G a l l oh t t p : / / n f i s t u d i o s . c o m
The Problem
People are getting sick of registering and re-declaring their friends on every site.
Developing "Social Applications" is too much work.
Identity Federation
The assembled identity, of a person's user information across multiple systems
Social Graph
The interconnections among people, groups and organizations in a social network
OpenID
OpenID is a free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet.
Users are identified by a URL at a provider(ex: http://derekgallo.myopenid.com)
Users are directed to their provider to identify themselves and then returned back.
OpenID Pros
Open Source!
Multiple Providers (Yahoo, AOL, Google, ...)
No Central Control of User Data
Largest Pool of Users(kinda).
Possibilities limited by developer imagination
OpenID Cons
Requires application development to utilize (although it is a standard)
Only addresses Authentication although can be combined with other standards (Social Graph API, Portable Contacts, OpenID Attribute Exchange)
Most non-technical users are unaware of it or don’t understand it.
The Open Stack
Facebook Connect
Allows users to login to sites using their familiar Facebook credentials.
Allows sites to import users’ data from Facebook profile.
Sites can add items to users’ feed on Facebook
Facebook Pros
Already richly populated with data.
HUGE, self aware user base.
Familiar and usable for end-users
Quickly being adopted by many sites (thus adding to its familiarity)
Facebook Cons
Proprietary
Requires application development to utilize
New custom markup to learn
Limited to what Facebook implements.
Single provider of identity
Google FriendConnect
Javascript “Gadgets” that are placed on your site to add social functionality
Small but growing selection of gadgets becoming available from the OpenSocial community
Actually uses OpenID
FriendConnect Pros
Super Simple to setup
Register your site and paste some javascript code.
Select social features you want (friends, wall, etc.)
Growing gadget base
Easy for non-developers to implement
FriendConnect Cons
Interaction is sandboxed behind Google’s widget code
No way for developers to get access to the user’s data for incorporation in their site
So far appears to be very “widgety”
Which One Should I Use?
Examine your site’s needs and target audience.
Are your visitors more technical?
Will most of them be on Facebook?
Do you need access to the users’ data to act upon it?
Which One Should I Use?
OpenID if you:
Want to comply with emerging standards.
Want to support several sources of identity
Have technical resources to implement.
Which One Should I Use?
Facebook Connect if you:
Want simple brand familiarity for general end users.
Want to promote actions on your site to a huge user base.
Want to easily get data about a user from one protocol
Have technical resources to implement
Which One Should I Use?
Google Friend Connect if you:
Don’t need ready access to work with the user data.
Want to quickly add fun widgets to your site or blog.
Don’t have technical resources to implement.
Which One Should I Use?
You don’t have to pick!
You can use more than one.
JanRain’s RPX - Integrates with allhttps://rpxnow.com/
Who Will Win?
Nobody will “win”
Facebook Connect will and is gaining quick adoption
The Open Stack may gain more support long term due to developers backing