If someone is worried enough about privacy - then why are they even logging in via their Facebook profile in the first place? Realistically you would just use a throw-away email account and then no one knows.
Secondly - as a developer - why would I want to accept anonymous logins? If I did - then I can just let them create a username + password with no email account instead?
We have found that a significant number of users will just quit the app if presented with a "sign up or login" with Facebook screen at the beginning of the flow.
With this, they don't have to give us any personal data and can start using our app right away. If they want to activate social features later it is really easy to upgrade their token without having to worry about merging accounts.
Edit: regarding the user side, the problem for a lot of users isn't that they don't trust Facebook. It's that they don't trust the random app/website that is asking for their Facebook data.
Personally I feel it is the other way around.
I guess we'll see how successful this is to see what people really think?
Email address, allowing me to use '+' as a mailbox extension. I'll use wtbob+yeldarbsite@example.net. Done.
> We have found that a significant number of users will just quit the app if presented with a "sign up or login" with Facebook screen at the beginning of the flow.
Yup. I refuse to log in with Facebook anywhere but…Facebook.
> With this, they don't have to give us any personal data and can start using our app right away.
I'd still be using Facebook to log in, so no thanks.
> regarding the user side, the problem for a lot of users isn't that they don't trust Facebook.
I don't. In fact, I trust your website with my per-website email a lot more than I do Facebook.
If it makes anything better, I'm one of those people that run away once you ask to log-in with Facebook, and that change won't make me start using it.
thats me 90% of the time.
I like this because it allows the developer to solve things like unique sync accounts and only ask me for more info after I've liked the app enough to want to do something like share it.
In a humorous way, this post illustrates that old problem well: http://thebloggess.com/2009/08/get-my-husband-off-facebook/
Even though that's not a problem today, I'm still skeptical of apps because of it. So I'll log in with Google+ or another service, but Facebook still makes me feel gross from those old experiences.
I'd rather not be someone's product.
However the are plenty of articles that say this form of sign up is not necessarily effective.[1]
For this idea to take off - you need to assume the reason for the current lack of uptake is that users dont trust the 3rd party with the Facebook data.
However I personally believe, and would have thought, that most people dont trust Facebook with the linked data, since they are learning more about you?
[1] http://blog.mailchimp.com/social-login-buttons-arent-worth-i...
And frankly, the user should be bailing out there. Regardless of Facebook's sketchy policy changes, they have demonstrated that they will at least do what they promised with my personal data, but there's no reason that I should a new app/service the same level of trust.
With "Anonymous Login" users don't have to worry that the app will be able to do nefarious things with their Facebook data.
I don't think it's really all that different.
A website asking for a friends list with no clear use case sounds suspicious.
I think most people in the real world, outside our cozy tech bubble, trust Facebook pretty deeply. They give them their thoughts, their photos, their schedule, and their private messages to people. I'm not sure their really that concerned about Facebook also knowing that they signed into Candy Crush Saga XIV
I don't understand why any developer would use FB anonymous login when you can just use email which is equally as effective.
Also a single tap is still often much easier than typing a full email address, especially on mobile.
This could be improved somewhat if iOS or Android had a way to autofill your email address on demand. Unless something's changed recently, the only way to do this now requires asking for permission to the entire address book which many people rightly consider a bad idea.
Because you want the ability to ban people without them being able to create a new account, but you don't care who they are. (E.g. if you are running an online poker site.)
It helps overcome the username/password signup hurdle AND it helps assuage fears of random Facebook posting. I'm sure it will be a hit with the next semi-skeezy dating app.
For serious apps (business stuff), I don't see why you'd want this.
Secondly as a developer social login is nice because A) users like it (see above) and B) you off load much of the work of having to deal with authentication and authorization.