Tomorrow's portals:
mashups of many

Facebook has launched Facebook Connect, a system that lets members use their login information to access other websites, see what "Friends" are doing, and broadcast actions to others.

Sites accessible via Facebook connect include the Discovery Channel, The San Francisco Chronicle, social news site Digg, genealogy network Geni and online video hub Hulu.

Connect also boasts a socializing element: Friends can "gather" to watch a video on Hulu, for example, and chat about it live. Supporters say these capabilities could spark the emergence of a new "social web."

Currently, real-time chat among friends is a capability few sites possess, even among those infused with "community" features like forums and reviews.

Connecting Facebook to other sites, and making those sites social, will also make these destinations more attractive to advertisers, writes BBC. Traffic volume will likely increase, leading to higher ad revenues for the social networking site, which has garnered plenty of investor interest little ad revenue thus far.

In the past year Facebook was blasted by privacy advocates like MoveOn.org for privacy concerns related to a previous ad effort, Facebook Beacon. After quietly partnering with a handful of online services — including Blockbuster and Yelp — Beacon broadcast user activity on those sites to all their Facebook friends.

Concerns were also voiced by Canadian law students and New York legal experts. They argued Beacon deceptively associated users with brands and shared behavioral information without first seeking permission.

To avoid a similar storm with the launch of Facebook Connect, the socnet plans to transparently authorize each site partner and review how they will use Facebook member data. In a few weeks, sites will be able to register for Connect without having to seek approval.

MySpace, Yahoo and Google announced similar programs this year, using agnostic standards so websites can plug into their identity systems with ease, but Facebook appears to be leading the movement with Connect. In May, the site announced it would ban Google's Friend Connect from its API program, citing the "privacy issue" of Google as "middleman" in the data-sharing process.

Click-through rates on social networking sites typically range from poor to poorer still, according to a survey from research firm IDC. 57% of users clicked on an ad in the past year, and only 11% of those clicks actually led to a purchase.

"It's becoming very clear that advertisers don’t know how to advertise on Facebook," said Charlene Li, an independent consultant and social media analyst. But putting a group of Facebook friends gathered on a focused area like news or travel — where they spend more time — could attract ad dollars, she stated.

Beyond increasing ad-relevant traffic, Facebook stated it has no plans to explore "other advertising potential" with Connect, COO Sheryl Sandberg told The New York Times.