Facebook Connect

Facebook has just launched Facebook Connect, providing greater ease of access to social networking sites:

Facebook Connect lets you use your Facebook ID and password to sign-in to third-party sites. It's kind of like another Web-wide sign-on protocol called OpenID in that regard, but Facebook strikes me as having far greater potential of taking off on a large scale.

The reason? It's easy to use, understand, and control -- and users won't have to do any extra work to find it or make it function. OpenID, if you're not familiar with it, lets you use a single username and password to sign-on to numerous sites. But let's be honest: How many average, non-techie-type Web users are even aware OpenID exists? Odds are, most people have an OpenID-linked account somewhere. But does the typical Internet surfer even know what it is or how it'd be used?

Facebook Connect has visibility on its side. As the most visited social network worldwide, according to traffic measurement data by ComScore, it has an audience already connected and ready to roll. And with 100-plus partners expected to be on-board within Connect's first weeks, there will be plenty of places for that audience to go. Sites like CBS, CNN, and CitySearch are already signed up...countless blogs and Web sites are sure to follow.

So far, Facebook says the sites involved in early testing reported a 50 percent jump in user engagement. For people who are really into social networking and use Facebook -- and, let's face it, that's a massive number nowadays -- Facebook Connect will offer a powerful new layer of interaction across the Web. It may not be the first system of its sort, but it could just be the first one to make a significant splash.

Open ID

The innovative use of social networking sites by the Obama campaign for communication, mobilization and fundraising has set the standard for future national campaigns.

The point of all of the online gadgetry is to get people to show up for offline events. "We've tried to orient the tools less as a social network and more as a mobilization network," said Joe Rospars, Obama's online director. "We're creating opportunities for people to get out there and do things -- the campaign is election-outcome oriented."

The easy flow of information to millions of people, particularly those in the 18-29 age group (and younger, as today's 15-year old will be eligible to vote in 2012), so valuable to Obama both throughout the primaries and the general election campaign, will be even more valuable as we become even more wired. However, what happens if we become mired in the web, trapped in the "Walled Garden" as described here?

There's been a growing concern among companies operating social networks such as Facebook , MySpace and LinkedIn -- as well as the hundreds of niche sites that have sprung up -- that too many of these online hubs could lead to paralysis among users. Inevitably, a user with too many sites to visit and update will abandon some, if not most.

OpenID caught my attention because it was utilized by the Obama campaign.

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.

As first reported by ReadWriteWeb, President-elect Obama’s website Change.gov now supports OpenID sign in for commenting on certain blog posts and sections of their site. Change.gov uses Intense Debate to power their comment who recently relaunched with OpenID support. As ReadWriteWeb wrote:

Every other major player that has announced support for OpenID has in fact only allowed accounts with their company to be used as an OpenID elsewhere - they have not allowed other OpenIDs to be used to log in to their own sites. That means Barack Obama is cooler than AOL, MySpace, Google and Yahoo!. Maybe you already knew that, though.

Intentional or not, it’s great to see OpenID continue to be built into tools used all over the web whether it be Open Source development frameworks, OS X Leopard, or hosted services like Intense Debate. Putting OpenID in front of such a mainstream audience will certainly continue pushing the community down the path of smoothing out OpenID’s user experience.

As social networking sites evolve, and as political campaigns rely upon them for communication and recruitment, ease of use will be vital to their value.

Hollywood Responds to Prop 8

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

News Media Rankings

A recent report by Experian Simmons evaluated media on "five dimensions of engagement" and provided rankings of news sources for their power at creating social interaction - essentially, what formats/platforms do people find compelling and worth talking about.

Not surprisingly, Americans gave news media highest marks for Social Interaction, indicating that they regularly talk with friends and family about things they see on news programs or read about in news magazines or on online news sites.

News media also get high scores for Trust, meaning that while other research has shown Americans don’t necessarily trust “the media” at-large, consumers believe that the news they personally consume provides them with accurate and trustworthy information, Experian Simmons said.

Among the TV and magazine news properties evaluated, Experian Simmons found that the most talked about news property is The Drudge Report, followed by The New York Times, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The O’Reilly Factor and The Wall Street Journal.

Paradoxically, the study revealed that the dimensions of Trust and Social Interaction don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, according to Experian Simmons. The most-talked-about Drudge Report scored 12% above average for Social Interaction and ranked #1 in that dimension, while scoring 10% below average for Trust, for which it ranked #46.

Louisiana NBC-Affiliate News Package

Jindal To Meet With Obama

Bobby Jindal attended the Governors meeting with Barack Obama today in Philadelphia.

Jindal says he wants the new administration to know that Congress has authorized billions of dollars for hurricane flood protection for Louisiana that has yet to be funded.

Jindal also says he will push for the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to report directly to the White House.

bobbyjindal.com

The Jindal gubernatorial website: www.bobbyjindal.com is a good foundation from what will be a migration to a presidential run. It includes links to YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and Facebook, along with a variety of information portals, including the Action Center and invitations to join the campaign (not to mention merchandising). It is not as savvy as BarackObama.com, but more advanced than JohnMcCain.com.

Note the links to three important potential constituencies: Sportsmen, Farmers and Veterans.