360DigitalInfluence

As a follow up to our recent webinar, Facebook Bootcamp for PR, you’ll see five blog posts in the coming weeks exploring the five trends set out in our presentation. This installment looks at the quickly evolving role of Facebook Connect and reviews how brands can use this open ID to enhance their Facebook presence and expand other social media programs.

Launched around the beginning of 2009, Facebook Connect is designed to let Facebook users port their Facebook identity beyond the walls of the social network while still sharing their activities and updates with friends through the Stream (formerly known as the News Feed). If, for example, a user comments on your corporate blog and ops to use their Facebook Connect ID, then not only have they taken a step in interacting with your brand but all of their friends can view that interaction through the Stream. With Facebook announcing a new Desktop Stream which will keep users constantly connected to their friends’ activities, it’s a great way to echo every interaction you have with your current customers.

At first it seemed that Facebook Connect was positioned to be Facebook’s answer to the Open ID, but last week Facebook was one of the first sites to announce that they will be embracing the Open ID and allowing users with a Yahoo, Google, AOL, MySpace or Microsoft account to create a Facebook profile based off of their existing profiles on outside sites.

A large scale example of using Facebook Connect was CNN’s work to activate their election debate forum by allowing users to sign in using their Facebook profile and broadcast their ideas and notes simultaneously on CNN’s site and in their own Facebook community. On a smaller scale, you’ll see more and more blogs allowing users to leave a comment using their Facebook ID and don’t be surprised to see the same for online purchases in the future. Unlike the Beacon Fiasco of ‘07, Facebook Connect is 100 percent user opt in and users are becoming more comfortable sharing their every move online with friends.

Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester had a great post last week on the The Future of the Social Web: In Five Eras which mapped the evolution of social networks as they relate to how we interact online and off. Facebook Connect is a great example of what Owyang’s third era, the Era of Social Colonization where every action we take can now be social.

Three easy ways brands can use Facebook Connect right now:

1. Add Facebook Connect to your own web site or blog
2. Use Facebook Connect in conjunction with other social media programs to amplify the reach of your efforts.
3. Think about the kinds of interactions you have with your customers. Where is the sharable aspect? Do your customers want to share a review, a new purchase, a discussion item?

Any site meeting the technical capabilities can add Facebook Connect to their blog or web site- check out the Facebook Developers’ area for more information.