Facebook Opens Up To OpenID

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that this type of integration is the wave of the future.

"We believe that the majority of the sharing that's going to happen in the world isn't going to be on any one site," Zuckerberg told insidefacebook.com. "That's why building a platform and having it be interoperable is important for the Web developers and for us strategically."

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different Web sites, meaning that users don't have to open up new accounts and have user names on all their Web sites. E xisting and new Facebook members can now link their accounts with their Gmail accounts or with accounts from OpenID providers that support automatic login. Once a user links their account with a Gmail address or an OpenID URL, they are logged into that account and when they go to Facebook they will already be logged in.

The OpenID technology is not proprietary to companies or Web sites and is free. Users can keep an OpenID no matter which provider they move to, according to the OpenID Foundation.

Facebook joins AOL, Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Novell, Sun, Telecom and Yahoo as a company on board with OpenID. The foundation estimates that there are more than 1 billion OpenID-enabled user accounts with more than 40,000 Web sites supporting OpenID logins.

OpenID technology is not just for Facebook friends—enterprise users can benefit from the technology as well.

"For businesses, this means a lower cost of password and account management, while increasing site visitor registration conversion rates," the foundation said in a statement. "OpenID lowers user frustration by letting users have control of their login."