When I wrote about the launch of Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect last week, I tried to explain the similarities and the differences. One difference I suggested was ease of implementation. I knew that Google Friend Connect was really easy, that they had focused on “cut-and-paste a few lines of javascript”. But here’s what I said about Facebook Connect:
A second difference is target market. Facebook has clearly focused on major sites, like Digg, Hulu, and CitySearch, and while simple implementations can be done with very little coding, most will involve a bit more complex development.
Last evening, I learned otherwise, watching a video whose title says it all, “Add Facebook Connect to Your Blog in 8 Minutes“. Engineers from the Facebook Connect team, Luke Shepard and Wei Zhu, take you through the process with a great, straight-forward guide to implementing Facebook Connect. I’m not a developer, but I found the presentation really straight-forward. Great job, Luke and Wei! (Hey, Luke, you are welcome as a guest on The Social Web TV any time.)
(I would have embedded the video here, but hosted WordPress has severe limitations around what can or cannot be embedded. Lame.)
So, it really will be interesting to watch adoption of Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect in the “long tail” of the Web. I wonder if we’ll start to see directories that can let us know all the sites that implement either. Would be fun to check them out and to compare and contrast.
Anyway, I stand corrected. Congrats to the Facebook Connect team on a great rollout. I note that CNET is live today with their integration.
The Real McCrea 