NBC Privileges Facebook Connect

Posted by Kathy Gill on
Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 1:02 pm

NBC Uses Facebook Connect As An Exclusive Login

I won’t be commenting on any NBC Olympics blog posts, or giving them a thumbs-up. That’s because the only option for ~~commenting~~ voting is Facebook Connect.

Unlike the federal government, which has also privileged Facebook Connect upon occasion, NBC is a corporation. It has no “taxpayer public interest” that should mandate the option of an open — non-proprietary, non-commercial — platform such as OpenID. But it should have advocates on its web dev staff who can convince their bosses that consumer choice in matters like this is in the corporation’s best interest.

NBC is telling its web audience that it only wants to hear from people who are part of the Facebook ecosystem. I believe that is short-sighted. I know that Facebook may be the 800-pound social networking gorilla, but not everyone in the U.S. — or the world, for that matter — has opted in. Moreover, many people who do have Facebook accounts choose to use the service minimally.

And given Facebook’s change-of-heart on which information it will decide tomorrow should be public (even though it was once-upon-a-time private or controlled by the individual), why would I entrust it with additional information about my digital meanderings?

Maybe that’s why the comments seem sparse in the “Get In The Games” blog — the one that has as its subtitle “Share your thoughts on all the action at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.” I checked out today’s post (no comments) and Friday’s (only 14). There’s a thumbs up (but no thumb down) button — but no indication that anyone has actually endorsed either post. It was clicking the “like” link as a test (I wanted to see what I’d need to do regarding registration) that lead to the Facebook Connect popup.

Just say no to any commercial (or government!) web site that provides only one proprietary way to interact — whether it’s Facebook Connect or Twitter or Google. Well, do more than say no silently — speak up and tell them why you are saying no.

And think twice before using Facebook Connect.

This post first appeared at WiredPen

Addendum: I realized last night that I had only tried to vote, not comment. The login set my teeth on such edge that I forgot to double-check the comment rules. Who in their right mind makes it harder to vote than to comment? To vote, you have to log in with Facebook Connect. To comment, you can be anonymous, which is the most harebrained system I can imagine.

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9 Comments, Comment or Ping

Brian Kissel

Any company or organization has the right to choose what technologies, standards, and products is utilizes to serve it customers.

That said, I agree with your statement that not offering customers choice is not in the best interest of customers nor the website operator, NBC in this case.

You can see information on user registration and login preferences on over 170,000 websites at http://blog.janrain.com/2010/01/social-media-industry-trends.html There you will see that Google is actually the first preference, followed by Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, and a host of other ID providers including AOL, Windows LiveID, MySpace, etc.

Feb 13th, 2010
Matthew Stringer

I was going to click the Like button for this post, but there isn’t one.

Feb 15th, 2010
Cat Chien

Totally agree with the statement that “consumer choice in matters like this is in the corporation’s best interest” — if companies want consumers to participate by creating conversation and dialogue, these companies have to make the process both simple and intuitive. Companies have to keep in mind that it really only takes on negative experience to keep users from wanting to participate further. Sounds like NBC didn’t step into the shoes of the average user…big mistake.

Feb 27th, 2010
RoseE

I can’t imagine how NBC thought it would be in their best interest to only engage a limited audience. Clearly someone there understands the value of soliciting customer feedback; otherwise there would be no comment fields at all. Still, to limit commenters to Facebook users was a terrible choice.
I agree with Kathy, If NBC really wants to learn from their customers, and they should want to, they need to make it easy for anyone any everyone to provide feedback. Not just the narrow demographic of customers who are also on Facebook.

Mar 1st, 2010
Amy Rolph

I’m a bit puzzled by NBC’s decision, too – it certainly seems restrictive to readers who aren’t on Facebook or don’t want to log in to comment. The only incentive I can think of in terms of community engagement is that it does help users share their thoughts with friends online — a bonus for those who want their network to know what they think without posting a link on their profile. Still, it seems like a small plus compared to a much larger negative: the restrictive format.

Mar 4th, 2010
Suna

NBC doesn’t have any interest in hearing from their customers, especially from their West Coast customers, especially regarding the Olympics.

Consider their adamant refusal to air any programming live for anyone but the East Coast (see The Seattle Times’ Ron Judd column from Feb. 16 “What Olympic tape-delay controversy? NBC still doesn’t get it” http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ronjudd/2011098934_judd17.html) They limit viewers who have premium cable accounts to be able to watch programming online (see FTM post “Is this the future of “Free?” http://flipthemedia.com/index.php/2010/02/is-this-the-future-of-free/). Viewer must install Silverlight, which they know is problematic based upon their comments form (http://www.nbcolympics.com/contactus.html.) Not to mention their cutting away from the Olympics Closing Ceremonies to air “The Marriage Ref” at 10:30pm. Bah.

So having people use Facebook Connect to comment or vote or both, fits with their current philosophy of restricting content. And since they made it so darn difficult for people to watch the Olympics, why would they be interested in hearing from people who have?

Mar 4th, 2010
Rae Macker

Reminds me of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfV6RzE30&feature=player_embedded. These Internet “monopolies” happen without us even noticing, and I’m bothered every time I am prompted to use Facebook Connect. I use Facebook for socialization with a select group of people – why would I want to extend it to other platforms and communities? I don’t buy the convenience factor of one login for everything. It’s downright scary to have all of your information in the hands of one business.

Mar 9th, 2010
Nicole Maroutsos

I’m with you, Rae. I see no benefit to using Facebook connect. So you only need one log-in – I’ve never had an issue with remembering my passwords for various websites and the idea that Facebook can be tied into all of my online activities is unappealing. It seems unnecessary and, in terms of NBC, it seems to be not in their best interest. The idea of commenting is to get the community engaged in conversation so they feel personally invested. To only allow those who have Facebook accounts is to make non-Facebookers feel not welcome.

Mar 11th, 2010