5. Facebook Connect

The folks at Facebook want to broaden their members’ connectivity, and they’re trying with a project name that says it all: Facebook Connect. The principle is to be able to use your favorite applications outside of Facebook.

Soon it’ll be possible to use your Facebook account to log on to other services/platforms without having to create new Profiles.

Tempting perspectives

The goal of all this is to be able to exchange information from anyplace on the Web with your friends through one single account. New functions have already been announced.

Trusted Authentication will make it possible to easily authenticate yourself on Facebook partners’ sites. Real Identity will let you use your real identity on the Web, but in a secure environment. Friend Linking is a program that’s supposed to allow you to take your friends everywhere on the Web with total trust. Dynamic Privacy will make sure the privacy settings you define in Facebook will follow you everywhere. And finally, Social Distribution will let you share what you do on partner sites with your friends once they’re back on Facebook, thanks to information feeds.

Developers can already find the tools and documentation they need for their future applications on a special Facebook Connect site.