Still waiting for the official Facebook Connect WordPress plugin. I tried the unofficial one, but it's still got kinks.
Hercules K
· 4 months ago
yup same here, everything seems too complicated...the official release should make it really easy
Tor Erling
· 1 year ago
I really like the google one, since it can use openID the facebook one can be nice, I just don't like using my facebook credencials to log in on other sites...
Ryan Merket
· 1 year ago
Stan,
Interesting analysis. One important fact that I think you overlooked was the ability for publishers to use xFBML anywhere in their site. With GFC you are limited to iframes. With xFBML you just include a facebook javascript file and a new name space to you doctype (top of your xhtml file) and then you can start using xFBML tags directly in your XHTML file. This provides a new level of customization for publishers and seamless integration of Connect far above that of GFC.
gd
· 1 year ago
I think disqus is still better to add the most important social feature to website: comments
Andreas Lanjerud
· 1 year ago
While the FB solution looks neater, it still only talks to FB. What happens with my stuff if FB is not the community of choice in 2009? Will I switch solution again? What I think all of us are looking for is a way to handle all our comments, both the ones we get and the ones we make, in one single place for all services. Disqus could be the choice here, it works pretty well, but lacks the Google/Facebook account connection. What to do, what to do ...
Tomas Corona
· 1 year ago
Facebook Wins
I just can't understand why google did that..its like a pre cooked product what they launched.
IdeaTagger
· 1 year ago
The one place where most of my friends are is Facebook. I suspect this is true for most people and is the simple reason why Facebook Connect will be more attractive to developers and end users than Google's Friend Connect. For developers/publishers, the news feed publishing could be invaluable. For end users the attraction would be the ability to find and interact with facebook friends on other websites. The sign-in feature is a secondary benefit in my view - a bonus. Overall I think connect is of more benefit to publishers/developers than to end users.
dccrowley
· 1 year ago
With facebook and last years beacon drama - let's say I have trust issues. But I do use facebook a lot and it works so well for me. I have a site with a small community which has gone stale, but on facebook I've been doing lots of stuff with that crowd. When I get my site going again - there will have to be a facebook presence.
Googles FC is cool, in that it's simple. But Google, Yahoo, AOL and OpenID are not serious players in the social networking sphere - at least not in my opinion. Google are going to have to work very hard and be very social, very out there promoting it, being very unGoogle if they want this to be successful. I hope they take it seriously and do promote it like mad. There is so much you could do with this and they need to start creating the waves with cool stuff and 1 or 2 great evangelists. Then they can win imo.
Jimmy
· 1 year ago
Google FC and Facebook Connect a bit slow out of the block. Disqus and others are miles down the road and TypePad Connect holds even more promises. And they are incredibly easy to install and look good too.
Greasyguide.com
· 1 year ago
I have to agree with the readers talking about Disqus. I stalled and it and works so much better then anything else I've tried and it keeps the spam away which is a big plus. I have no idea on how to get FBC on my site and I really don't have time to shift through all of that. GFC took only 3 minutes to set up and get going and that's what I'll be using until something better comes along.
ajay pathak
· 1 year ago
facebook connect is good as compare to google connect because we get our friends and lot of other options also. with google they will include all their servoces and ony day they also include ads and start selling our privacy
Dart Mouth
· 1 year ago
Are FC and GFC either/or solutions. Cant we have both on a website after a good planning ? It would be great if someone could shed some light on this.
Sotos
· 1 year ago
So I used the GFC gadget to connect to Mashable, and now I am typing this comment I still have to retype my name and email address. So whats the point?
I guess Mashable could use the Comments gadget of GFC, but obviously they didn't choose to do that because they prefer their own, better, comment system.
So the question is: Is it possible to integrate seamlessly GFC with your own web applications (e.g. comments), or you HAVE to use the iFrames of GFC?
Adam from PageRush
· 1 year ago
It will be fascinating to watch this battle play out. Google has a head start with widgets and ease of integration, but Facebook has the user base and profile data. It seems like Facebook can only be a short-term winner.
Robert MacEwan
· 1 year ago
So out of the gate Google announces first and provides easier blog integration. FaceBook follows show casing Techcrunch as one of their example sites. Seems that FaceBook would have been more prepared to appear to the masses than this. Maybe they should have waiting a week or so for a more polished unveiling.
Richard
· 1 year ago
Best summary of the differences between the two I have seen - thanks.
We have integrated Facebook Connect into ReviewThing (www.reviewthing.com), and I agree that it's far from trivial. Google Friend Connect looks much easier, but I am also convinced that it is much less useful. Google allows social networking with a single site, Facebook Connect allows networking across all sites on the web that support FBC. I don't want to create separate networks of friends on each individual sites. My friends are my friends, whichever site I'm on.
So FBC seems to match reality better than GFC.
DaveLucasNotes
· 12 months ago
The ease of integration makes Google Connect MY choice, HOWEVER should Facebook offer a plu-in widget, it'll be on my blog as soon as it is available!
Ahmed
· 11 months ago
Here's a very good Wordpress plugin for FB Connect:
Has anyone found a way to allow a Google Apps user account to Join a site using Google Friend Connect?
Cynthia
· 12 months ago
Interesting. It's clear what the benefits are to the publishers/developers, but what about end users? As an end user what bothers me is how data is being fed back into Facebook to become the central holder of all my data.
There are many privacy and trust issues in letting ONE social network (that's closed) own your data. It's more work to sign up to each individual site, but in the long-run, it's better to keep the public and private separate. Not being able to export data is another problem with Facebook.
Facebook will grow in popularity, but will users in the long-run trust it, or regret handing over their data? Hard to say.
Edward
· 12 months ago
Does Facebook Connect have a Google Friend Connect style widget that lets you put a list of fans of your Facebook page onto your website?
Boston Counseling
· 11 months ago
I'm still having trouble seeing the benefits to the website owner that integrates these. Maybe I'm slow, maybe it will become more clear if and when I integrate one into my website.
Even sites that use GFC, I "join" and still have no clue if I'm logged into anything.
And my understanding is it's not possible to message all members, which I think is a main value to website owners!
Matthew Armstrong
· 11 months ago
A question i have is whether GFC can be set up to post your activity to another sit e, namely Facebook?
Can you use GFC like you can facebook connect with regards to sharing?
tubbytat
· 9 months ago
google friend connect is preety cool, i replaced js script with googlefriendconnect, and as mentioned in other posts, alot cleaner for the site.
Cai Chen
· 8 months ago
Are there any sample sites already implemented Google Friend Connect?
Bakyt Niyazov
· 8 months ago
Nice article! Facebook can be tricky even for programmers that's true.
Don Henning
· 8 months ago
Good article, and it has helped me make a decision to go with Facebook since I want the two-way interaction.
I am a longtime developer and have spent a few hours with Facebook connect and copied the code exactly as per facebook (tutorial 101) and it no worky ;) What makes it hard is that you get no run time errors like you do when you normally code.
All Comments
Interesting analysis. One important fact that I think you overlooked was the ability for publishers to use xFBML anywhere in their site. With GFC you are limited to iframes. With xFBML you just include a facebook javascript file and a new name space to you doctype (top of your xhtml file) and then you can start using xFBML tags directly in your XHTML file. This provides a new level of customization for publishers and seamless integration of Connect far above that of GFC.
I just can't understand why google did that..its like a pre cooked product what they launched.
Googles FC is cool, in that it's simple. But Google, Yahoo, AOL and OpenID are not serious players in the social networking sphere - at least not in my opinion. Google are going to have to work very hard and be very social, very out there promoting it, being very unGoogle if they want this to be successful. I hope they take it seriously and do promote it like mad. There is so much you could do with this and they need to start creating the waves with cool stuff and 1 or 2 great evangelists. Then they can win imo.
I guess Mashable could use the Comments gadget of GFC, but obviously they didn't choose to do that because they prefer their own, better, comment system.
So the question is: Is it possible to integrate seamlessly GFC with your own web applications (e.g. comments), or you HAVE to use the iFrames of GFC?
We have integrated Facebook Connect into ReviewThing (www.reviewthing.com), and I agree that it's far from trivial. Google Friend Connect looks much easier, but I am also convinced that it is much less useful. Google allows social networking with a single site, Facebook Connect allows networking across all sites on the web that support FBC. I don't want to create separate networks of friends on each individual sites. My friends are my friends, whichever site I'm on.
So FBC seems to match reality better than GFC.
http://www.sociable.es/facebook-connect/
There are many privacy and trust issues in letting ONE social network (that's closed) own your data. It's more work to sign up to each individual site, but in the long-run, it's better to keep the public and private separate. Not being able to export data is another problem with Facebook.
Facebook will grow in popularity, but will users in the long-run trust it, or regret handing over their data? Hard to say.
Even sites that use GFC, I "join" and still have no clue if I'm logged into anything.
And my understanding is it's not possible to message all members, which I think is a main value to website owners!
Can you use GFC like you can facebook connect with regards to sharing?
I am a longtime developer and have spent a few hours with Facebook connect and copied the code exactly as per facebook (tutorial 101) and it no worky ;) What makes it hard is that you get no run time errors like you do when you normally code.
-Politiet i Danmark
Is it possible?