Facebook probably just become the largest OpenID relying partner on the Internet. As you may know, OpenID is a standard, decentralized authorization system for accessing online resources. Basically, it allows you to have one login for all sites that support it. No more need for remembering fifty-eleven different login and password combinations. We actually touched briefly on OpenID when we talked about Chi.mp.

This new Facebook feature makes it much easier to keep track of what’s going on on Facebook. Sometimes, I don’t bother with FB because I don’t feel like logging in (yeah, whatever, I’m lazy). I stay logged into Gmail, though. By connecting my Google account to my Facebook account, I make my life easier and avoid another login prompt. Services currently supported by Facebook include: Google, Myspace, Yahoo, Vidoop, MyOpenID, and pretty much any standard OpenID provider.

If you don’t already have a Facebook account, it’s now that much easier to sign up since you can use your existing credentials from somewhere else. Facebook points out that those signing up with their Google accounts “get up and running after registering even faster than before, find their friends easily, and quickly engage on the site.”

Does this mean Facebook is becoming more open? I assure you it does not. Facebook is still the walledgarden it has always been. They’re just allowing you to enter the garden using a few different keys. You still can’t take anything out of the secure area. Facebook may be able to take a look at your Gmail contacts, but I’m pretty sure Google isn’t going to be able to see any of your Facebook info. From what I can see, there is no two-way sharing going on here.

One major benefit is that this could give OpenID a boost in publicity. The largest social networking site on the net is supporting OpenID, so maybe other sites and services will follow. The social web is becoming more diverse as new services arise and interface with other services. OpenID can help to make interacting with these various services more user-friendly.

(via Techcrunch and Mashable)

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