Facebook's New Feature Will Allow You To Access Apps Without Giving Up Your Data
The social network revives its developer conference to help app makers boost their bottom lines and give members more control over their information.
By Sadho Ram — 01 May 2014, 05:18 AM — Updated over 10 years ago
At Its F8 Developer Conference, Facebook Announced A Brand New Version Of Its Login System For Third-Party Apps That Lets People Log In Anonymously
During a keynote speech at Facebook's F8 Developer Conference, Zuckerberg announced the "anonymous login," as a way for users to maintain more control over how much personal information they'd like to share, when they use their Facebook account to log into other apps and websites.
fb.com
Zuckerberg said during the conference that "we know some people are scared of pressing [the social login button].... if you're using an app that you don't completely trust... then you don't want to give a lot of permissions."
thewire.com
The New Login Also Gives You Total Granular Control Over What Data Types You Give An App
In addition, Facebook’s login service for mobile apps now offers users more fine-grained controls over what they share with an app. Starting today, users can’t just decide whether an app can publish to your news feed and what date it can read from it, but they will have very precise controls over what exactly gets shared.
techcrunch.com
The anonymous log-in button, which is black as opposed to Facebook's iconic blue, is meant to let members easily log in to applications without a username or password, but without the sometimes unnerving commitment of handing over personal Facebook data to an untrusted source. You can do that a later date if you want, of course.
cnet.comAlthough, Facebook Is Only Testing The New Feature With Select Developers Like Flipboard, Which Means You Likely Won't See It For Several Months To Come
Meanwhile, Fast Company's Mark Wilson Says The Anonymous Login Isn't Totally Anonymous. Wilson Explains This By Writing:
"Facebook Anonymous Login is a bit like Google's Incognito browsing they introduced inside Chrome. Except, again, it doesn't appear to be 100% anonymous because Facebook still sees the user going anonymous to check out an app. That would be a bit like Chrome keeping you logged into YouTube when you're browsing in Incognito mode."
He also explains that if, after using Anonymous Login to download an app, you decide that you like it you still do have to log in with Facebook at some point later on. So it's sort of anonymous... temporarily.
thewire.com
Zuckerberg Also Announced That Users Would Have More Privacy Options On Facebook.Com, Too. The Wall Street Journal Explains:
"The changes, which Facebook says will be adopted by websites and mobile apps within the next year, will give users more choices about the personal information they share with third parties. By checking or unchecking a box, users will be able to specify if they want to share their friend list, their birthday or their “likes,” among others. Currently, people who log in with Facebook Login don’t control the information they share, including their email addresses, their friend lists and other personal data. "
While The New Features Appears To Be A Bad News For Developers, Another Feature Called Facebook Audience Network Should Appease That Demographic
Audience Network lets marketers push their Facebook ads off the social network and into apps who sign up to participate in the network. Advertisers can choose to run banner, interstitial, or native ads off Facebook to encourage app installs and other activities, and take advantage of Facebook's usual targeting and measurement tools.
cnet.com