What Facebook's New Login Means for Developers

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discusses the social network's new login during his keynote address at the F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco, April 30, 2014.

Image: Mashable, Karissa Bell

By Karissa Bell2014-05-01 00:59:26 UTC

"We don't ever want anyone to be surprised with how they are sharing on

Zuckerberg was referring to the social network's new login features, including anonymous login, which he said will help developers draw more users to their apps.

See also: Goodbye, Hoodie: Facebook Grows Up

With the new login features, Facebook is unbundling app permissions. This means when users log in with Facebook, they will be able to control exactly which permissions they grant to apps, or log in anonymously, if the developer makes the option available. What's more, developers will have to prove to Facebook that the permissions their apps are requesting are actually necessary.

While this is good news for users, Facebook's changes to login will mean many changes on the developer side. It may be easy for users to simply decline individual app permissions, but the unbundling comes with several extra steps for developers on the backend.

Facebook will be implementing the login changes by adding an extra step to the app-review process that all developers go through: login review.

Login review will evaluate apps on three main points: whether the permissions an app is requesting are actually necessary, that apps must clearly ask for permission to post on a user's behalf, and how well the login process itself works by checking for crashes or errors.

Facebook knows that implementing these changes will be a lengthy process, so developers will have a year to make their existing apps compliant with the new login standards. However, the new login-review step will be effective immediately for any new apps.

"Developers need to do work to support you declining permissions, and build the experiences around helping educate and explain to you why they are asking for that information," Eddie O'Neil, a Facebook product manager, told Mashable.

O'Neil said users are expecting more transparency from Facebook, and the company is recommending that developers limit the number of permissions their apps ask for at once.

Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya, a social login provider for enterprise companies, said his company noticed that app usage tends to drop off dramatically when apps ask for more than three or four permissions.

A recent survey that Gigya conducted showed that app permissions — or the perception of app permissions — was a major concern for users who declined to use social login.

"There really was a concern around transparency," Salyer said.

Facebook is hoping that the new login will put users' minds at ease, and help developers improve their apps by providing a better user experience.

"If people don't have the tools they need to feel comfortable using your apps, then that's bad for them and it's bad for you," Zuckerberg said during his keynote at F8. "It will prevent people from having good personalized experiences and trying out new things, but it also might hurt you and prevent you from getting some new potential customers."

Kurt Wagner contributed to this report.

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Topics: app developers, Dev & Design, f8, Facebook, Social Media, Tech