Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#91

Post by rickr » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:37 PM UTC

tikhonj wrote: post #18

I wonder if browserid[1] is a better alternative. It doesn't require a Facebook account or anything like that and is actually surprisingly easy to use (from the user's point of view). I only tried the demo, but it was basically frictionless. [1]: https://browserid.org/about I haven't evaluated it completely, but it seems like the best option right now.

This looks nice but it does seem like it's an extra step for users to go through unless they are using this service.

Have you seen janrain? http://www.janrain.com/

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#92

Post by Drbble » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:40 PM UTC

jarofgreen wrote: post #81

k-mcgrady wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a long time Facebook wasn't available over seas. Facebook started with only US colleges, then high schools. It only opened up to people outside the US about 3 years ago I think so I would assume a large percentage of its user base is american.

False, Facebook was getting popular in my uni in the UK back in 2003.

Impressive, since it didn't exist then.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#93

Post by Drbble » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:46 PM UTC

feor wrote: post #10

Facebook Connect shouldn't be your only sign-in option because some people don't have and/or don't want to have a Facebook account. Simple as that.

Some people are almost certainly not your revenue-generating customer for your ad-supported social app. People who avoid advertising and social networking are those people.

Mathematica offers a non-Facebook sign in. So does Safeway.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#94

Post by Drbble » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:47 PM UTC

tesseractive wrote: post #48

alttag wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too, because I don't have a FB account. I actively avoid one. I'm being excluded from marketing campaigns, contests, and give-aways because I don't trust FB with my privacy.

I have a pseudonymous Facebook account with no one friended and no personally identifying information that I keep around basically just for using services that expect me to have a Facebook account.

Run it in a private browsing window as well, with session-only cookies.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#95

Post by Drbble » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:50 PM UTC

veyron wrote: post #38

nknight wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles don't, my best friend doesn't, several of my favorite past and present colleagues don't. There are times I really wonder where Facebook's massive userbase comes from, and how it can ever possibly occur to anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances, to make Facebook the sole login system for their web startup that otherwise has little or nothing to do with Facebook.

Given that there are ~ 300M americans and facebook has ~850M users, my guess is that most of their userbase is overseas (and oftentimes falling prey to the whole "americans use it, so I should also be using it" mentality)

Most of their userbase is alt accounts. I have at least three myself.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#96

Post by Drbble » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:53 PM UTC

antonlitvinenko wrote: post #54

nknight wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the obvious 80% solution a separate cookie that just says "this browser last logged in using service X" that the server can use to give UI cues?

With single device - you're right... but this becomes really a problem when you expect your customers to use multiple devices: computers at home, at work, smartphone, iPad... how would you suggest your customer which login to use the first time she tries to sign in on another device?

Ask for username/email, then key off that. 80% solved.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#97

Post by jdietrich » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 1:56 PM UTC

You should almost certainly use Facebook Connect as your only signup option - all the data I've been privy to shows that the improvements in engagement more than make up for lost signups.

I'll put you on my list of "people I will never do business with on principle", but if I'm your target market then you've got much bigger problems than that.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#98

Post by shinratdr » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 2:54 PM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #44

tnorthcutt wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to the days when you just had to implement a simple website for 1 browser, without having to worry about multiple browsers, supporting iPhone, iPad, Android, and enabling Facebook/Twitter/OpenID logins, and finding friends through facebook/twitter/gmail? Do you really yearn for those days? Think about what you can build now vs. what you could build then.

I could build the next Mint w/o people saying "How is that different from Mint?". I could build Twitter w/o people saying That's like Twitter! I could build the next Match.com w/o people saying "But everyone's in Match.com!"

How is that beneficial for anything other than your ego?

Last time I checked, if there was no internet in the year 2012 you could invent that too. I don't really see it existing as a hindrance to your potential creativity though.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#99

Post by jiggy2011 » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 3:46 PM UTC

I think it depends on the app, if it's something that's basically an extension of a social network then it makes sense to sign in with that.

Sometimes though I might want to use an app for work purposes that I don't want in any way linked to my normal persona.

Or I may want to use something which I know will in no way interest any of my friends and I don't want it posting anything for me.

Really, if I can't take the time to create a username/password for a site then I probably wasn't that interested in using it.

Re: Why Facebook Connect Shouldn't Be Your Only Sign-in Option

#100

Post by yonester » Sat, Feb 04, 2012, 4:37 PM UTC

Totally agree. The ease of use and security implications are certainly important, but how users perceive their privacy is essential to usability (shameless plug: http://nicelycoded.blogspot.com/2012/01/signing-in-with-face...)