Facebook Connect went live last Thursday and may usher in a new way to browse and interact with the Web. The program enhances the connectivity among the social network, its users and the Web pages users visit.

In addition, Facebook shrewdly increases ad revenue for itself and partners while cementing its reputation as the social network of choice for a long time. It does all of that seamlessly while appealing to our very basic urge to show and tell. And that is the distilled brilliance of Facebook Connect: It is the show and tell of the Internet age.

The idea behind Facebook Connect is deceptively simple.

Web sites such as Hulu.com, Citysearch, Digg and others that partner with clan Zuckerberg offer Web surfers the ability to log onto their site with existing Facebook information and share interesting tidbits with friends through their news feed. The content on those partner sites-the videos on Hulu or the stories you vote for on Digg-are the arrowheads, found frogs and shiny rocks of the Web.

As things are now, most Web sites are like a traditional small classroom. Readers who land on the site add a thought to the string of comments below an article and, generally, that’s as far as the social interaction reaches. Facebook’s “classroom” has more than 130 million students, enormously expanding the reach of any shared item.

Facebook Connect is a single sign-on service that rolls all that prep time into one service: See something on the Web, log in with Facebook credentials and share with all of your Facebook friends.

Partner sites seem to be excited to join Facebook Connect because it will bring them enhanced visibility and increased page views, resulting in more money.

Facebook isn’t exempt from those same restrictions, but as people share more through Facebook Connect and interact with those items, a ripple effect will take place. When a friend comments on someone else’s tagged photo in Facebook, that information shows up in your news feed. If individuals form single strands of thread in the Web, the addition of Web sites will reinforce those strands in steel.

Connect essentially turns partner Web sites into active participants on the social network.

 

Tags: Citysearch, Digg, Facebook, Facebook Connect, Hulu, Social network, Social network service

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.