Update: Facebook just
opened up FB Connect as well in a self-serve
fashion. It’s mano-a-mano.
The battle over who will control access
to your online identity is heating up. In
the wake of more and more partners finally
starting to take a shine to Facebook’s
competing FB Connect (which we just
implemented on Techcrunch), Google’s Friend
Connect is now in an open beta. Before it
was in a limited preview release, but now
any website can add Google Friend Connect as
a login option.
Google Friend Connect is OpenSocial’s
answer to Facebook Connect. It lets other
websites accept a member’s
OpenSocial OpenID username and
password to log into their sites. More
importantly, it also lets websites access
users’ social data, which includes friend
lists, profile information, feed messages,
reviews, ratings and the like.
Since it is based on penID, visitors to
a Website that adds Friend Connect code will
be able to sign in using their Google,
Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID usernames and
passwords. The Websites will also be able to
add any OpenSocial apps developed by third
parties. And it supports the OAuth data
portability standard.
WWhen you drill down into the technical
details, there are some differences between
Friend Connect and FB Connect. But
ultimately, what is at stake here is what
will become the identity and data
portability standard on the Web, and who
will control it. While Friend Connect is
taking a more open-standards approach,
Facebook has the users and the momentum. Who
are you betting on?
- Erick
Schonfeld,
TechCrunch
