Q: Facebook Apps – How to Sync FB Login with Non-FB Login?

I’m trying to figure out — what’s the best way to sync a user that signs up for a Facebook Application via Facebook, so that they can use the application at the non-Facebook website as well? I know iLike was going to be doing this, but not sure if they have yet to do it. A user should be able to login to iLike via their Facebook account, or they should be able to go to www.ilike.com directly and login.

The opposite I’m also curious about — what if the user signs up at (for example) www.ilike.com and then wants to join that account with their Facebook account?

Anyone have thoughts on best way to do this?

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  • http://zviband.com Zvi Band

    Steve,

    Of course there are many different ways to do it, but here’s my recommendation.
    1. User adds Facebook App
    2. User goes to their page on the application (within Facebook), and are asked to “sign in” using their ilike.com/whatever credentials. Or, if they don’t have an account on the main system, they can register as well.
    3. Your system associates their login credentials with the Facebook user ID, and never asks again.

  • http://www.musmo.com KwangErn Liew

    Without close collaboration between two parties, it won’t go far. Unless you rely on a (loosely) third party to handle authentications, like a proxy, which I doubt many would like.

    That’s why OpenID is such an awesome project. ;)

  • http://www.fliva.com Michael St. Hilaire

    I would think you’d need to capture the user’s facebook login/pass on the ilike site. With that you could log in as that user to facebook and scan the info to synchronize it. Not very elegant though, there must be a better way

  • http://blog.perfectspace.com nate

    I believe you can allow the user to login with their facebook account, and then give them a link to your site using their profile id. You may need to check it against a facebook cookie or something, but I think that’s how Magnolia does it.

  • http://deanlandolt.com Dean Landolt

    KwangErn above nailed it. Without collaboration from Facebook you’re just wasting your time. What keeps them from changing their mechanisms and breaking your app on a whim?

    Again, that’s where OpenID comes in. And if Facebook won’t come around on OpenID, why bother supporting their platform?

  • http://www.fafarazzi.com Chris Keller

    Hey Steve, check out the Socialight application on Facebook (and register on their site). You’ll see the way they do the syncing, although I only believe it’s one way.

    The concept is really not hard, you just ask for their insertdomainhere.com reg info in the Facebook app, and on the main site you ask for their Facebook info and you’re done. Save both, you’re good to go.

  • Joe Cure

    Steve – A little off topic, but I liked you comment on the Techcrunch Whuddleworld post. Seems like a perfect match, almost worth it for TY from a marketing/branding standpoint alone (not to mention the enormous upside if it actually was successful)

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/27/who-wants-to-buy-a-virtual-world/