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Yahoo! to accept Facebook and Google account logins
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Yahoo! is allowing users to sign in to its network of websites using their Facebook or Google accounts in a move aimed at boosting user numbers. The feature uses the OpenID authentication system and makes it easier for millions of users to perform tasks such as sharing and commenting on Yahoo! articles and playing its online games without the need to create an account. The company says it plans to extend functionality to other third-party logins over the coming months.
Yahoo! is the latest company to allow network access to rival identity providers. Google implemented a similar service in September, allowing Yahoo! account holders to access its facilities such as Reader, Docs and AdWords. Yahoo!-owned photo sharing website Flickr began trialling the system a month later, allowing Google users to utilise its features and TechCrunch claims Flickr witnessed a 20% increase in sign-ups as a result.
Yahoo! has long stated its intention to keep users engaged with its content for longer as part of its plan to reverse the company’s fortunes, and commentators claim the benefits of attracting Google and Facebook’s user base to its properties makes the move an obvious one. However, some say it indicates that Yahoo! is conceding defeat in its battle to become the number one online identity. Facebook launched its social sign-in service Facebook Connect in 2008, and it is now used across a number of sites including CNN and YouTube. Yahoo! was reportedly planning to launch a rival service, called Y Connect, last year but the feature never materialised.
Social sign-in services are becoming more prevalent in the online space as the lines between websites become more blurred in favour of a single online identity. Yahoo! already allows users to access their social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter while in their email accounts after it revamped the service last year. A recent report by Gigya and Edge Research claims three quarters of online retailers and publishers have implemented or plan to implement social sign-ins in a bid to drive up user registrations and revenues as more websites open their doors to dominant social platforms.
