Facebook Platform
Facebook F8 amplifies the Facebook Platform: Like, Timeline, News Feed, API; http://eicker.at/FacebookPlatform
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Gerrit Eicker
#NymWars
Google Plus‘ identity crises led to #PlusGate and escalated to a war for pseudonymity: #NymWars; http://eicker.at/NymWars
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Gerrit Eicker
Guardian: “Google Plus forces us to discuss identity – Google’s Real Name policy embodies a theory that states the way to maximise civility is to abolish anonymity. … Google Plus’s controversial identity policy requires all users to use their ‘real names’. … [P]roblems include the absurdity of Google’s demand for scans of government ID to accomplish this task and the fractal implausibility of Google being able to discern real from fake in all forms of government ID. … The first duty of social software is to improve its users’ social experience. Facebook’s longstanding demand that its users should only have one identity is either a toweringly arrogant willingness to harm people’s social experience in service to doctrine; or it is a miniature figleaf covering a huge, throbbing passion for making it easier to sell our identities to advertisers. – Google has adopted the Facebook doctrine… There could be no stupider moment for Google to subscribe to the gospel of Zuckerberg, and there is no better time for Google to show us an alternative.”
Gizmodo: “Google, Facebook and Twitter now all have similar products. But Twitter CEO Dick Costolo (somewhat inadvertently) made it clear yesterday that while all three have social networking features and make money from ads, they are in fundamentally different businesses. – At a very basic level, Google+ and Facebook are in the identity delivery business, and Twitter is in the information delivery business. That’s a powerful distinction. It reflects a fundamentally different conception of what’s more valuable: information or identity. It also gets at who is more valuable, advertisers or users. – Google and Facebook’s social products are committed to a real names policy. Both can serve someone up to a network of peers or advertisers with some degree of certainty about identity. – Twitter takes exactly the opposite route towards building a network. You can be anonymous, or use a pseudonym, or even impersonate someone else (as long as you indicate that it’s a parody). It will still connect you to others on its network, and allow you to both serve and receive data. And that’s working well, for everybody.”
SEW: “There has been a lot of speculation about why the push for real names on Facebook and now Google, with Google taking a much harder line than even Facebook, not allowing for even the simplest derivation of ‘nyms’ (pseudonyms). … Why is a company like Google taking such a hard line on something as simple as a name – even though there is no verification process for the ‘real name,’ so ultimately this policing is currently meaningless. … Google’s ambitions for Google+ appear to go far beyond social signals, marketing, and their efforts to make a better product. Dig a little further and you’ll find something called the ‘National Strategy For Trusted Identities In Cyberspace‘ (NSTIC). … A way to establish identity was never invented, so one needs to be. The difference is that companies will hold the real IDs, rather than the government – companies with ‘identity services,’ such as Google. … Maybe we have a new wrinkle in the reason behind the real ID movement, not the betterment of services for Google, but the government initiative into a real online ID system. … Real ID systems should be of concern to anyone who believes in the Bill of Rights and our freedom of speech and to not incriminate ourselves – to live a life that isn’t monitored by entities, ‘private’ or not. Is Google part of this? You have to be the judge.”
Boyle: “Thoughts on rel=author, #nymwars, ‘identity service’ – Over the past month or so, the ‘nymwars’ have become the thing Google+ is most known for among my circle of friends. This is a problem of Google’s own making: they are suspending profiles based on naive heuristics about ‘real names’ (actually typical two part western names), and demanding government ID to reinstate them. … This is not an effective defence against trolls as was initially claimed; they’re more concerned with ideas about G+ as an ‘identity service’ and a way to ‘improve our products’ than about the wishes of their users or the fact that they’re perpetuating the exclusion of minorities. … I recommend linking together your profile pages on other sites, rather than only linking everything to your Google profile. … [D]on’t just do what’s on the left here, because all those associations will be lost when your G+ profile is taken down. If you do something more like what’s on the right, other identity services / social networks and other search engines will have a better chance of presenting what you want them to present.”
Gartner, Blakley: “Google+ Can Be A Social Network Or The Name Police – Not Both – Google is currently trying to enforce a ‘common name’ policy in Google+. The gist of the policy is that ‘your Google+ name must be ‘THE’ name by which you are commonly known’. – This policy is insane. I really mean insane; the policy is simply completely divorced from the reality of how names really work AND the reality of how humans really work, and it’s also completely at odds with what Google is trying to achieve with G+. … A name is not an attribute of a person; it is an identifier of a person, chosen arbitrarily and changeable at will. … Google+’s naming policy isn’t failing because it’s poorly implemented, or because Google’s enforcement team is stupid. It’s failing because what they’re trying to do is (1) impossible, and (2) antisocial. … Google’s intention in moving into social networking is to sell ads, Google+’s common names policy gives them a lock on the North American suburban middle-aged conservative white male demographic. w00t.”
Botgirl: “Ejecting virtually identified people with active social networks shows that Google sees online relationships as illegitimate. When Google ejects you for using virtual identity it not only disrespects your privacy choice, but also the choices of everyone who circles you. Shunning the pseudonymous makes intolerance a community standard. – Today, most of the privacy we relinquish is volitional. But If we lose the Nymwars we all become permanent residents in a global Big Brother reality house. The expression of identity is multidimensional, aspects emerging and submerging in a fluid dance with the changing environment. … It’s ironic that those calling for authenticity want to make all the world a stage and cast us all as full-time unpaid actors.”
GigaOM: “Can gamification help solve the online anonymity problem? – There’s been a lot written recently about the issue of online anonymity, and in particular how Google believes that a ‘real names’ policy is necessary so that the Google+ network maintains a certain tone and level of trust. … It’s not so much that badges or other rewards – Slashdot, a pioneering geek community, has long used ‘karma points’ as a way of rewarding users and selecting moderators – cure bad behavior, or prevent trolls from coming to a site. What they do instead is make it easier to distinguish between what Slashdot calls ‘anonymous cowards’ and those who have gained the trust of the community. Over time, it becomes obvious (theoretically) who is worth listening to and who isn’t… Instead of simply trying to ban or exclude anyone who doesn’t want to use a real name, as Google is doing with Google+, why not try to design a system that rewards the type of behavior you want to see, and lets the users of that community decide who they wish to pay attention to?“
Gerrit Eicker
Account Chooser
OpenID Foundation goes Account Chooser: an open standard for the next generation of web sign in; http://eicker.at/AccountChooser
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Gerrit Eicker
OpenID: “The OpenID Foundation is launching its third OpenID Summits for 2011. … This OpenID summit gives web site developers and technologists a closer look at the OpenID Connect protocol, its use cases and adoption plans by leading companies. We will introduce ‘Account Chooser’ its implementation and user experience and provide interop testing and feedback for next generation OpenID adoption. – Please join us on Monday, September 12, 2011 from 12:00 Noon until 5:00pm PDT and Tuesday, September 13, 2011 from 10:00am to 5:00pm PDT.”
Account Chooser: “[is an] open standard and user interface guidelines for the next generation of web sign in. – If a user has been logging into a website for a long time with a password, then the account chooser experience makes it easy for the website to upgrade them to use an identity provider. … The use of identity providers not only makes it easier for people to use websites, but also makes their accounts more secure. With traditional websites, people tend to reuse password across sites. If hackers are able to compromise even a single website, they can then use that password to break into the person’s accounts on other websites. Unless a user’s password is extremely complex, there are unfortunately very simple techniques, such as dictionary attacks, that hackers can use to identity a person’s password on almost any small to medium website. Fortunately identity providers can be certified to confirm they offer protection against those types of techniques.”
Google: “In July 2011 Google started allowing limited access to a new layer on top of our login box using an industry approach called an Account Chooser. Our goal is to gather feedback to decide whether to roll this out to all users, and what modifications to make to the design.”
TC: “Essentially, Account Chooser appears to be a way for website owners and publishers to alter their traditional username/password-based login systems to one that supports multiple identity providers. – Such a system would also allow people to easily switch between accounts. – For a website owner or publisher, the system could increase sign-up and login rates, as well as reduce costs from hijacked accounts and users who have trouble logging into their account for whatever reason. To deploy Account Chooser, they can use a SaaS vendor such as the Google Identity Toolkit and Janrain Login Helper – or simply build their own.”
TR: “Ein neuer Dienst, der unter anderem von Google unterstützt wird, soll beim Nutzeraccount-Management im Web endlich den Durchbruch bringen. … Account Chooser, ein neuer Dienst der OpenID Foundation, der unter anderem Google, Facebook, Microsoft und Yahoo angehören, ist der jüngste Versuch, das Anmeldeproblem zu lösen. Dabei kann der Nutzer einen Account auswählen, mit dem er sich künftig identifizieren will – mit dem Log-in von Google Mail oder Facebook, beispielsweise. Damit lassen sich dann zahlreiche weitere Internet-Angebote nutzen. … Die Technik wurde von Eric Sachs entwickelt, einem Projektmanager bei Google, der im Verwaltungsrat der OpenID Foundation sitzt. Google unterstützt das Projekt und unterhält den Code auf seinen Servern. Account Chooser unterscheidet sich deutlich von früheren Ansätzen – darunter auch von der ursprünglichen Methodik der OpenID-Foundation selbst, deren Technik sich inzwischen als zu kompliziert erwiesen hatte.”
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Privacy VIII.
Facebook: You need to explicitly choose to share [address, mobile number] before [3rd parties] can access; http://eicker.at/24
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook: Our Singular Login?
Has Facebook already won the digital identity war? And, how portable are our digital identities? http://eicker.at/SingularLogin
Gerrit Eicker
PayPal Goes Janrain
PayPal users are now able to use their PayPal credentials to log in to sites via Janrain Engage; http://eicker.at/15
Gerrit Eicker
Metaverse: a Singular Entity?
Blechner: Metaverse is about allowing all different kinds of applications work together; http://eicker.at/z
Gerrit Eicker
Sign-ins via Janrain Engage (RPX)
Janrain Engage (RPX) lets website visitors sign-in with social media accounts, publishes usage stats; http://j.mp/9SQ05E
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Gerrit Eicker
Janrain: “How people prefer to sign-in to sites on the Web: 38% Google, 24% Facebook, 14% Yahoo, 5% Twitter, 5% Windows Live, 14% Other. … Overall relative popularity of each network has held steady during the past quarter. Google remains the most preferred network with nearly 40% share. Facebook continues to be a popular option, and Yahoo!’s share has grown slightly since April, with 14% preferring a Yahoo! account to sign-in. While Twitter’s popularity in the social web ecosystem continues to rise, it still remains the 4th most popular network for sign-in across our customers’ websites. … The story is different with media companies. On news media sites, Yahoo! is the leading choice for sign-in with 34% share. As a content-focused network, Yahoo! users proactively seek out news and timely content across the web, making it no surprise that the network performs well in this industry segment. Facebook and Google also maintain strong presences on news media sites. … For magazine publishers, Facebook comprises 57% share of all logins. Many magazine publishers focus on lifestyle and interests, a natural pairing with Facebook users who like to share their interests with friends. … A look across Europe shows that Facebook is the most popular network for sign-in, followed by Google and Twitter: 39% Facebook, 26% Google, 12% Twitter, 8% Windows Live, 7% Yahoo, 6% Hyves, 2% Other. … Preferred social networks for sharing: 53% Facebook, 37% Twitter, 8% Yahoo, 7% MySpace.“
Gerrit Eicker
Identity War
Gigya: Facebook dominates third-party logins for all but news. News is where Twitter rules; http://j.mp/9HGifF
Gerrit Eicker
OAuth 2.0
The OAuth 2.0 draft specification is out: stated goal of IETF is to maintain backwards compatibility; http://j.mp/bjjw4Y
Gerrit Eicker 07:13 on 26. September 2011 Permalink |
Forbes: “[T]here’s no question – Facebook remains the most ambitious, most technologically sophisticated, fastest-moving Internet company. The changes announced [at F8] were as big as anything the company has ever done – to turn Facebook into a real-time engine for seeing what your friends are doing and joining them right now… The changes are all big, but perhaps the most interesting is that Facebook is becoming a real-time communication service. … Longtime tech pundit and thinker Esther Dyson posted on Twitter today that Facebook was launching the ‘semantic Web’ without calling it that. Good, because hardly anyone ever understood what that meant. … In order to launch these real-time features for its platform, Facebook needed a way for users to access them. That’s why it launched the ticker earlier this week. … The best way to think of Facebook is as infrastructure – the social infrastructure of the Internet. Zuckerberg believes Facebook has far more to gain over the long term by reinforcing itself as a universal platform than by any other means. … Granted, it is potentially problematic for one company to own an essential piece of Net infrastructure.”
SG: “Without a doubt, [the] major keynote at f8 2011 showed Facebook to be making some major changes in the very near future. Starting with a whole new layout and set of functions they’re calling ‘Timeline‘ and moving through app enhancements that have the potential to change the way we use apps on all platforms, we’ve got a guide here for you, the Facebook user, to easily understand what you’ve got in store. This is Facebook as it will exist starting at the tail end of 2011. … There is a new class of application on Facebook now called Open Graph. This class is defined by three principles: Frictionless experiences, Realtime serendipity, and Finding patterns. The goal here is to have subject matter (games, music, video, social apps) spread to friends via friends in as enjoyable a manner as possible.”
AF: “According to Zuck[erberg]… ‘A record 500 million people used Facebook the same day. We’re connected now. The next era will be defined by the social apps that use these connections. … But there’s more to us, to our deepest conversations. You want to express the story of your life in terms of the most important and meaningful parts of your life – this is the heart of your Facebook experience.’ … Facebook has created a new class of apps to deal with the next version of open graph. Facebook’s mission is to make world more open and connected. They want you to have a more personal experience. … Now you’ll be able to eat a meal, hike a trail, and so on, and the activity shows up in the news feed. This means Facebook is adding verbs to the connections in the social graph. … GraphRank may be the new EdgeRank. What do I want to see in the news feed versus someone’s timeline? Different types of relationships work differently – work friends versus family, for example. And this is probably going to integrate the new friends lists and family categorizations.”
Guardian: “While Facebook is keen for its users to stay on the site for as long as possible, Zuckerberg has consistently emphasised that the site is a ‘distribution platform’ to other media companies. – The social network has moved to strengthen its ties with media partners in recent months as it moves closer to its hotly anticipated initial public offering. Facebook was recently valued at $66.5bn on secondary markets. Its global revenues are expected to reach $4.3bn in 2011, up from $2bn in 2010, according to the research firm eMarketer. … [Zuckerberg] wants Facebook to be the centre of your web experience. That’s the purpose of the redesign of the ‘timeline’ – the river of experiences recounted by your friends. Rather than being a river, he’s offering the chance to organise it, with the photos and videos. … The key is that he wants Facebook to become the de facto authentication mechanism of the web.”
Green, TC: “I was one of the first people to join Facebook in February of 2004, and launched one of the inaugural applications on the platform in May 2007. The new Facebook profile and Open Graph announced…, along with the launch of smart friend lists last week, is going to usher in a new era of the Facebook platform. And I believe entire industries will potentially be revolutionized by social, from travel to reviews to health to e-commerce, and of course charity. … I am confident we will see major sectors, from music to reviews to commerce, revolutionized by authentic friend-to-friend interactions. We are fortunate at Causes to have a big start in one of the largest markets around, the $300 billion giving market. It is anyone’s guess if the other major categories will go social with their current leading companies, or if entirely new ones will emerge, like Zynga in gaming. Either way, it will be a fun ride.”
RWW: “Facebook significantly scaled up the amount of information it tracks about you – and many millions of other people. The once humble status update field has been expanded to include 6 types of ‘life events.’ You now automatically share data about what you’re reading or listening to. … Here’s a quick summary of what’s changed: A new Subscribe button, allowing you to follow people you aren’t friends with, plus filter the amount of information you get from current friends. Improved friends lists – easier way to group people into lists, including via semi-automated ‘smart lists.’ A News Ticker that streams a constant flow of user updates in a sidebar (on top of your chat bar). A newspaper-like relevancy filter for your Facebook homepage. Instant sharing of what you read, listen to and watch. A new Timeline profile (a colorful history of you and your ‘life events’).”