Facebook Connect Boosts New User Sign-Ups. Implications
As you know, I'm a big fan of Facebook Connect. It was way back in March we started having conversations on our internal mailing lists about it and its been a hot topic on our social media mailing list ever since. With its official launch in December we're starting to see some adoption numbers enter the public domain. First the numbers and then some analysis.According to Silicon Alley Insider by December 29th 100,000 people had signed up on Facebook Connect on various sites. This was before Hulu, Digg and Twitter had finished their implementations. Joost.com apparently had the most registrations with 13,000 sign ups. Who'd have thought that a video sharing site would lead the way. YouTube will probably implement FriendConnect soon. Gawker Media with six sites in the top 25 and some 9,000 Facebook Connect members has seen user registrations up 45% and comments up by 16% since their implementation. Techcrunch has seen roughly 4,000 signups since adding Facebook Connect. We have no numbers for some of the larger websites like CNN's Forums and MyBarackObama.com
What does this all mean? A couple of things.
- Facebook Connect is being steadily adopted. There's no question that it takes time to add the capability but its very real and does produce results. I believe its going to explode in 2009. As the mainstream web and the social web finally come together FB Connect is going to be one of those vital glues.
- Implementations are still simplistic. I'm waiting for implementations that really surface different content and opinions based on my profile and my friends list. Similarly, I want to see targeted advertising driven by my profile too. Think of it as hyper targeting but for the rest of the web.
- Adoption will accelerate quickly. Facebook Connect has proven itself and as the FB Connect logo gets more universal, it'll get even more adopted. At the moment, most people don't know the benefit or don't realize that their social experiences don't need to be distinct from their mainstream web ones. As that changes, FB Connect will increase in popularity.
- Google FriendConnect has a lot of work to do. FB Connect has certainly come out swinging. With the partnerships and implementation simplicity of Google FriendConnect it can catch up quickly if it moves fast. That hasn't happened as yet. Depending upon how successful FB Connect is, Microsoft will probably tie itself more closely to Facebook. We're already starting to see that happen.
- Marketers must leverage Facebook Connect. I believe marketers are missing an opportunity by not looking at Facebook Connect seriously. Its not just about making a website more social, its about allowing for social influence marketing by having people talk about your brands and products with their friends and influence each other. Whether its a microsite, a web product or a corporate site the opportunities are endless.
Mashable has a list of Top 10 Facebook Connect Implementations and a master list of implementations is available at Inside Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter (@shivsingh) for more insights on digital strategy and social media.
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