You’ve probably seen it, you probably use it. And maybe you’ve even heard the futurists chatting about the wall-less Internet of the future? Profile transfer tools are, in my opinion, a clear indicator of that type of forthcoming Internet experience.
Facebook connect provides opportunity for users to access other sites with all (or 90%) of the benefits of membership in an online community without the hassle of creating another user profile.
The ability to move into these member communities with ease of access is a real convience. Open ID, which runs primarily under the same concept, is listed as…
OpenID is an open, decentralized standard for authenticating users which can be used for access control, allowing users to log on to different services with the same digital identity where these services trust the authentication body.
Open ID was the brain-child of Brad Fitzpatrick creator of LiveJournal, and serves to achieve many of the same principles that Facebook and Google have been able to achieve with their connect tools. It too is a sizable indicator of things to come.
Facebook Nation
In this game of profile exchange, I’d argue Facebook has the HUGE advantage of having so many users.
I thought it was pretty interesting to see the sound-bite above traveling around recently claiming that 350 million Facebook users well exceeds the US population at 304 million.
In sum:
I really like this feature, and I know Facebook, Google, and others are pushing their own version to stay in the game. Time will tell if one or any of these will emerge as a key component of the online experience. My bet at this time, is that Facebook Connect and other similar initiatives, will help pave the way to a future of a more fluid, uninterrupted online user experience thanks in large to systems like these.
What say you? Are you an Open ID advocate? Have you added Google Friend Connect your blog yet? Let us know what you think in the comment box below.
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