So my good friend over at Silicon Alley Insider discovered my Facebook status proclaiming my shock at Facebook's actual adoption of OpenID (the rumors had been swirling for a while, but I never thought I'd see it happen). Now, to Nick's point in the article, he wasn't exactly clear on what all the fuss was about other than it's a new "handy feature" for logging into Facebook.
My response as found in the article's comments as to why there's all the fuss:
"Hey nick...thanks for the shout out....i can understand the 'its neat but not big news" POV...but if you buy that value of data portability, this is a big move for that. Granted, I actually totally agree with Joe...
@Joe Weisenthal...OpenID is too geeky for the non-geek user (no one gets using a URL instead of an email as an identifier) but nevertheless, the simple fact that Facebook took this step is amazing from a (potential) data access standpoint. I remember hearing rumblings a while ago about FB supporting OpenID but never thought I'd see it happen. However, as far as open standard identity services go, OpenID is the current "leader"...but
to @bojan babic's point, yes, FBC was a great step in allowing for interoperability and identity data portability, but FBC fails to leverage any kind of standards (as to be expected). I'm not entirely sure why FB would pass the leading role to OpenID, I'll have to see exactly what Zuck said about it, but my initial guess is that it has to do with the data portability community pushing for standards for identity, relationship and activity data markup and the interoperability of that data...if FB is going to stay in the game once our identities become decentralized, they are going to have to start embracing open standards....but again, I could be just speaking obtusely here.
PS- more on data portability at the www.DataPortabilityProject.org"
5.21.2009
My HOLY FREAK Moment: Facebook + OpenID
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I think this is an interesting first step in not only Facebook's recognition of data decentralization and interoperability, but even to further cement themselves.
My theory is this: If they become an OpenID provider, that means millions of users can then use Facebook Connect-enabled OpenIDs ANYWHERE, and thus the data flow still comes from Facebook. They can place a value that much more, I presume, in this type of future approach because they can place themselves as perhaps one of the biggest OpenID providers on the net, save for folks like AOL (who are now OpenID providers via IM screennames). They will not just consume other sites' data, but also be a provider and allow the data to flow outward. It can push them into the core of how people sign up for services, comment on websites, and transfer profiles, and pretty make them a significant data-store and behavior-store of millions of REAL people that's accessible.
They also have the potential to do what no one else has done yet - demystify and de-geek the whole everything in regards to OpenID. It has the potential to reach critical mass and garner Facebook even more critical acclaim with such a bold move.
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