OpenID vs.
Facebook Connect vs.
Friend Connect
What’s The Difference?
Derek Gallo
http://nfistudios.com

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 all
https://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