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Facebook Connect Making Blog Comments More Authentic
December 10th, 2008
| By Justin Smith | 30 Comments » |
In the few days since Facebook Connect launched, we’ve noticed something: blog commenting is becoming more authentic. The presence of trusted Facebook identity is creating a context for more meaningful conversation on the web.
For example, when Facebook Connect launched on Inside Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, several people at Facebook, and dozens of people in the industry commented on Inside Facebook for the first time. Why? Because for the first time, Facebook Connect has enabled real identity on the web. In other words, everyone knows who’s actually talking.
What does that mean for online discussion?
- If your comments are connected to your Facebook identity, you’re not going to publish things you might say anonymously.
- Because comments connected to a Facebook identity are connected to a real person with a reputation (usually), they are more trustworthy (at least to the extent of that person’s reputation).
In other words, over time, Facebook Connect is going to slowly increase the authenticity and quality of conversation across the web. While this has been the goal of many identity systems for a long time, Facebook Connect has the potential to make it a reality more powerfully than ever before.
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December 10th, 2008 at 12:55 am
And while this is very desirable in it’s own regard, it’s important to keep in mind that anonymity is what made the web successful in the first place.
-Mike
December 10th, 2008 at 1:21 am
I’m really impressed with Facebook Connect, the only issue for me being unable to implement the login to my blog. The reputation and trust factor cannot be underestimated as for me that is the most valuable part of Facebook Connect!
December 10th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Fantastic point, it’s almost like an ID card for the web!
Perhaps in light of this and where the platform is going in the future – Facebook may want to increase the security around Facebook accounts.
This would be in both their working practices for securing data at their end AND authentication on the login front.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:49 am
Facebook Connect does a great job as identity manager, I totally agree.
Is there any official Wordpress plugin that I could implement into my blog?
December 10th, 2008 at 6:42 am
FUCK YOU! No Fucking person will stay my fucking anonymity from me!
FUCK YOU VERY MUCH!
December 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I have some reservations about implementing this… There are times when I don’t want my identity known, not because I’m hiding behind anything, but for personal security reasons I won’t always want my comings and goings and comments to be so easily Google-able. While I realize that you could (in theory – see below) logout and then comment, that’s an extra step that legitimate commenters like myself will have to remember to do to protect their own privacy. Plus, if the site is set up to use FB Connect as the only form of login system, and requires login for comments, that basically forces me to decide whether I want to risk my privacy to make a comment, or just be safe and skip it.
BTW, your logout is busted. When I clicked “logout”, I came to a wp logout screen. Hit back and reload, and was still logged in. I hit logout again, and got:
Fatal error: Call to undefined method: facebookrestclient->auth_expiresession() in /nfs/c02/h04/mnt/15200/domains/insidefacebook.com/html/wp-content/plugins/fbconnect/facebook-client4/facebook.php on line 243
And I am, sadly, still logged in.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
It’s very important for people on the web to have both the option of anonymity and authenticity. Anonymity is relatively easy (from a technical implementation level), while authenticity less so. Facebook Connect makes it easy to post things in an authentic manner while not requiring that everyone do so – so that if you want to make an anonymous comment, you can easily do so by not using it. I think it’s this expanded option capability that makes it really powerful.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Alison, you bring up a great point. There are definitely some times when you don’t want your comments to be associated with your identity. In those cases, you can always just comment anonymously (assuming the blog still allows that). And sorry about the logout error – will fix shortly.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Yishan, I agree.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Good post! What is the main difference of this tool compared to Google Friend Connect??
December 10th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Justin – I think my point is that – using Inside Facebook as an example – if I am logged into FB Connect, other than logging out entirely, I don’t have a way to comment anonymously – and it requires additional programming on the developer’s end to offer that option, which they may not even realize users would want. If you yourself are not concerned with privacy, it may not occur to you that anonymous comments may literally mean the difference between whether or not a user comments at all.
Blogs that force me to register for the site before I can comment are aggravating, but I will still sometimes do it if I feel what I say is relevant. Not having the option to comment anonymously (as is the case here unless I logout entirely) is even less attractive to me than being forced to register for a new site.
What if I forget to logout? Or what if the site doesn’t give me the option of commenting anonymously?
I understand both sides here – and as an added aspect, I am a Facebook app developer. Maybe ultimately the solution should lie within Facebook to ensure privacy is protected while maintaining options? Maybe in our FB preferences we can specify which FB connect sites we want showing our name, photo and links to our profiles, and maybe we should be prompted when we first allow the FB connect site (in an obvious manner) to make those decisions right off the bat. Facebook’s whole revamped system in August was about putting more control in the user’s hands (developer be damned), and this should follow suit.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
(And… err.. sorry for typing mistakes. I’m writing this from the bus while commuting home. Its a little bumpy and distracting.)
December 10th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Hmm.. something else I just noticed that is unfortunate – with FB connect, user profiles in comments no longer link to the posters website. I often find myself introduced to new sites that I finds valuable by way of the link in the comment area of someone I think made good comments. Shame to lose that. I don’t want to have visit everyone’s Facebook profile (and potentially friend them, depending on their privacy settings) just to see their blog or website – and I don’t want to have to friend everyone and their mom so they can see mine.
K, really done posting now. Ferreals.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Guillaume – for one thing, actions you take on a FB Connect enabled website give you the option of publishing the action to your Facebook newsfeed. This allows the site to really behave as an application, interacting with Facebook directly. Its not just a way to select friends from a network, although that’s certainly a big feature.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
good work…but i am not a anonymous……..
December 16th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
[...] we mentioned last week, Facebook Connect is increasing the authenticity (and quantity) of comments and discussion blogs that have adopted it thus far. However, many blog [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 9:46 am
I very much dislike having my last name on all my posts. I don’t mind the link back to my profile, but for my own reasons, I don’t want my full name posted. This will likely be the last time I use FBConnect due to that exact issue.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:23 am
sebagai seorang fotografer tentunya blog menjadi sesuatu yang saya perlukan sekarang ini. Karenanya saya memanfaatkan media ini sebagai arena untuk beresponding dalam dunia fotografi.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:29 am
Karena berprofesi sebagai fotografer, maka melalui media inilah saya coba apresiasikan talenta saya
December 21st, 2008 at 1:31 am
Because i’m a photographer, so that i fill very important to joining with this.
December 27th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
[...] Facebook account, the relying party can presume that the profile information that Facebook supplies will be authentic, since Facebook works hard to ferret out fake accounts from its network (unlike MySpace). [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I just recently discovered your Blog and appreciate you sharing your bout with facebook application with the world. but this site also search best knowledge
facebook chat application.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Checkin’ this out for the 1st time. I’m thinking about using it on another blog. Anyone have thoughts on how useful it’s been?
April 5th, 2009 at 5:44 am
Facebook Connect enables you to bring Facebook to your website. With Facebook Connect on your website, users can log on to your website without registering on your website. As per our research 80% users redirect from your site once they are asked for lengthy registrations. With Facebook Connect they can simply enter in their facebook username and password and they would be registered on your website with your database having their complete profile information along with their friends list and other details.
April 15th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
[...] we’ve documented before, content producers are finding that Facebook Connect can increase the authenticity of user comments and community. Users logging in with their real identities are less likely to leave lower quality comments as [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 7:49 am
It seems that comments posted on blog don’t link back to facebook to show all comments if the post was added to a user’s wall.
August 25th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
[...] Ever since Facebook Connect launched late last year, it has brought reliable identity to blogs and community sites for the first time. Because everyone knows who’s talking when a user authenticates through Facebook Connect, the quality of online conversation has increased: more people are commenting, and comments are more authentic. [...]
September 5th, 2009 at 3:28 am
Best news i heard all day …facecook connect
September 17th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Facebook Connect is an amazing feature that allows you to integrate your facebook platform into your own website. Facebook’s this new service permits users to sign into third-party sites and share profile information with each and every activity. This gives an incredible power to third parties to connect all of the Facebook features from anywhere.
1. Connect to your Facebook accounts seamlessly through any outside access
2. Find and connect with your friends who are on your own website
3. Share information and other activities with your Facebook’s friends on your own platform
September 17th, 2009 at 12:54 am
tancks
this post very very helped me !
Good Time