Facebook Wants to Be Your One True Login
Facebook and AOL announced last night a partnership that will integrate a user's Facebook friends into their AOL Instant Messenger. The announcement came on a day when Google announced its new attempt at capturing your social attention with Google Buzz and Yahoo! reminded us from the outskirts that they've been at this game for a year now.
The partnership will use Facebook Connect to import a user's Facebook friends into their AIM contacts, enabling chat directly between the two services. This will allow AIM's 17 million users to continue using AIM while being able to keep in touch with their existing friends on AIM.
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The Great Migrations
If you think back to 2002, the big news was Friendster. For many of us, it was the first time we'd joined a social network and we went wild adding friends. Then, in 2003, Myspace came along and we slowly started adding these same friends on Myspace until one day the virtual cobwebs became too much and we left Friendster altogether. And then came Facebook and we did it again.Let's face it - if we can avoid it, we'd rather not do this again and that's precisely what Facebook wants. Facebook has already become the dominant platform for social networking, but as it expands its business in other directions, we will begin to see it pull users away from other businesses too. This partnership is not only about preventing that, but further solidifying Facebook's place as our one, true login.
The more integrated Facebook becomes, the less willing we'll be to recreate that same web of social connections we've reinvented time and again.
While many of us may complain about Facebook's on-site chat breaking down, being slow or crashing our browsers, the fact remains that Facebook is where we've based our online social life and chat is a basic extension of this. AIM used to be one of the industry standards in this realm, but now it looks more like the company is hedging its bets and trying not to fall prey to the same circumstances that caused us to abandon other platforms.
Your One True Login
As we wrote last month, users already prefer to use Facebook Connect by a margin of 2-to-1 and countless sites already let you make connections on their site by comparing their user base with your Facebook friends.In this case, however, it isn't the connections that are being imported - real-time interaction with an external user base is being imported. Whether or not a particular friend has an account with AOL is irrelevant. The partnership reinforces the idea that our Facebook profile is at the center of our online existence. Whether or not someone is signed into AOL is no longer what's at stake here, it's whether or not the user is logged into Facebook.
While other integrations attempt to replicate our social connections, to port them over to the site we're on, this one makes no such demands. We can continue using AIM while taking advantage of the particular friend set we've likely spent the most time cultivating and grooming - our Facebook friends.
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Ok If I have to I will comment,I love facebook so right now just want to log in if thats ok with you..lol Keep up the good work...
whilst i do use facebook i am starting to worry that they appear to show no desire to let me leave and take my stuff with me.. my photos, my contacts, my emails, my 'wall'.
at least with hotmail, yahoo, gmail, aol they all have that friendly 'import / export' button. I'm surprised, in particular after the latest privacy settings changes that there haven't been more facebook / privacy stories.
ok cool now can I get to facebook
I truly love Faceback.I am able to talk to more then one person.
The new facebook sucks> NOW LET ME IN.
when can we log in?
I WANT THE OLD FAFEBOOK BACK THIS SHIT IS WACK!!!!!
just want to get on facebook
please give me back the old facebook login this is crazy.................
EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY NOT JUST LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!1111
I just want to sign in............
I just want to log in to Facebook - what with the red color and all? LOLLLOLOL!!!!!111
I was just learning,why would you mess it up?
wtf is this bullshttttttttttt all about. can i get n plzzzzzzzzz
What is going on? You are totally confusing me. Knock-knock. Anybody there? Let me in. Katherine
IAM NEW AT FACEBOOK NOW WITH CHANGES IAM LOSSSSSSSSST!
All I want to do is log in, this sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
LIKED THE OLD FACEBOOK SING IN.............
This is such a mess I can't do a thing on my facebook .The changes you have made are ridiculous,I can't even login!!!!!I am very upset!!!
Can we log into face book? This is crazy I want to get all my info off and be done with this. I recently moved from MN to SC Myrtle Beach and facebook was a great way to keep in touch with family and friends but this is getting to be to difficult.
log in please.
i need the old facebook this new one is very bad bbbbbbbbbbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What have they done now. It's not simple enough for me to figure out.
i just started useing face book so i dont really care
How do you get in?
I JUST WANT TO LOGIN IN TO FACEBOOK!
OK can I long in now
I'M lost, If It's not broken why fix It?
This is a little confusing until I get used to it.
I am not happy!!!,I was starting to feel comfortable with it now I am all confuse How do I sign in?
all I want to do is lon in to y home page
Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone!!!
why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't like the new facebook. Why fix something that isn't broken. this really sucks..
Why can't I get on ???
All I wanted to do was LOG IN TO MY FACE BOOK ACCOUNT! I don't like this new way! "If it an't broke why fix it?"
WTH??? We need the old FB back...this is ridiculous!!!
this is just way to funny.........
THIS SUCKS I DONT LIKE IT AT ALL................
now that you have managed to mess up the whole system how do i get back to login?
Hola a todos es un dia muy hermoso
Nothing like being taken hostage on our own computer :-(
I don't like the new face book page. I want the old face book page back. Plus the updates run slow or the pages freezes
O HAI GUYS WHATS GOING ON IN THIS THREAD?
Just let me in please
Why wont you let me sign in?
Seams like all of the comets i read agree with me you people messed up royal i was enjoying facebook now i am thinking of getting rid of it all
I LOVE FACE BOOK CONNECTED W/PEOPLE I WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL W/ESPECIALY ONE CLOSE FRIEND.KNOW LET ME LOG IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is what happens when people use Google to enter sites instead of typing it on their address bar...
Damn you all Farmville users...
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