Social login simplifies logins for end users while unlocking reliable engagement metrics such as demographic, geographic, and interest data to media property owners.

1. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used Social Authentication Tool
Recommended Best Practices to Increase Audience Value
Updated Nov 2012

2. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used
Social Authentication Tool
What is Social Login?
Social login, also known as social authentication, social
registration, single sign-on, or Facebook/ Twitter / LinkedIn
connect, is a form of registration where you use existing login
account information from a social media site (e.g. Facebook,
LinkedIn, or Twitter) to securely sign-in to a third party website
or app instead of creating a new username and password
specifically for that property. Social login is NOT a “like” or a
“follow” on social media. Social login example, Step 1: A property invites users to log
in to their site by clicking a Facebook button.
Why Offer It?
Social login simplifies logins for end users while unlocking
reliable engagement metrics such as demographic, geographic,
and interest data to media property owners. This data allows
the media property to make the most of their users’ registration
data to better understand their audience and provide them with
customized content and superior experiences. Implemented
properly, social login is a win-win situation for both the property
and the consumer.
The ease of social login has eliminated many of the challenges
presented with the use of standard registration forms (or “old-
fashioned” registration). These lengthy registration forms require
Social login example, Step 2: A window served by Facebook
a user to spend time inputting data manually which creates an pops up and asks for permission to log in with Facebook
unreliable source of information. Registrants who are tired of credentials and access to the user’s Facebook data.
creating logins and remembering passwords across multiple
websites commonly input fake data as a way to bypass the “old-
fashioned” registration process. This is problematic for marketers
UMBEL TIP:
needing to understand who their audience is. Since online users
Check out our curated selection of social login
tend to maintain an accurate and updated profile on their social screen designs online at pinterest.com/umbelcorp/
networks, social login provides a preferable solution for both social-login/
marketers and consumers.
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3. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used
Social Authentication Tool
According to A Janrain Social Identity Study, ■ Strengthen the social media perception of the brand and
conducted by Blue Research: increase social traffic
■ Increase amount and reliability of data collected
of consumers admit to giving
88% incorrect profile info ■ Increase ability to personalize online content, advertising
and product recommendations personalized to unique
interests, which in principle is good for both websites and
believe social login should be users
77% offered
may leave a website if asked to Which Social Network is the Best
54% register the traditional way Option?
One of the primary misconceptions today is that all social login
choices provide equal access to user demographic data. On
almost all services other than Facebook, users rarely provide full
demographic information. In addition to the amount of user
data available, Facebook also provides more robust options for
Social Login has Been Proven To: sharing content back to Facebook, such as the newly created
“publish actions” permission that allows for automatic Open
■ Simplify the registration process, which increases website
Graph publishing of on-site actions.
opt-in rates and reduces registration form and shopping
cart abandonment With an estimated 1 billion users on Facebook, an estimated 8
million sites are now using Facebook login as their social login
■ Eliminate the need for multiple passwords across multiple
choice. Further, 10,000 new sites choose to offer Facebook login
sites (also known as use “password fatigue”) every day. It’s difficult to argue a better social login network
than Facebook at this time. To further prove the growing
■ Increase security—security is improved by shifting the
predominance of Facebook login as an accepted form of online
burden of data protection to large-scale operators registration, out of the top 500 online retailers that use social
like Facebook or Google as they employ sophisticated login, 77% of those use Facebook login.
technology that take into account the user’s previous
behavior, the reputation of the IP address, and the
geographical location of the sign-in attempt
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4. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used
Social Authentication Tool
The chart below lists the top three most commonly used social login networks and the data that is available from each. During the social login
process, the website or app must ask the user’s permission to access the desired data. In order to earn audience trust and to stay compliant with
the social networks’ Terms of Service requirements, we recommend against asking for any data that you will not be immediately using.
Data Available via Top Social Login Systems
Facebook LinkedIn Twitter
• Name • Name • Name
• Email Address • Email Address • Email Address
• Address • Address
• Phone Number • Phone Number
• Photos • Photo
• Education History • Education
• Work History • Experience
• Current City & Hometown • Current Positions
• Activities List • Recommendations
• Birthday • Skills
• About Section • Bound Accounts
• Interests • 1st & 2nd Degree Connections
• Likes • LinkedIn Headline
• Check-ins • Group Discussion Posts
• Events Attending
• Group Memberships
• Notes
• Questions Asked
• Relationships & Status
• Relationship Preferences
• Religious & Political Affiliations
• Status Messages
• Subscribers & Subscribees
• Videos
• Website URL
• Friend’s Information
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5. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used
Social Authentication Tool
What are the Best Ways to use 5. Implement “Persistent Login”
This option allows the user to access your site on return
Facebook Login? visits when the user is already logged-in to Facebook,
Choosing the best social login network for your users is only the
eliminating the need to log in during every visit.
first step to an optimized registration process. It is important to
note that though the Facebook login experience offers many
6. Offer an alternative login, but favor
advantages, not everyone is an adopter of this approach. In order
Facebook in your page design
to provide your users with the best online registration experience
To avoid alienating non-Facebook users, offer alternative
possible, we suggest following these best practices when
login options. Your design, however, should encourage the
implementing Facebook login on your site:
use of Facebook as that will ultimately improve your user’s
overall experience.
1. Create a sense of trust
Websites and apps have a responsibility to clearly state
7. Capture and store long-term tokens
exactly what personal data they are asking their users to
When storing user tokens in your user database upon
share and what users will get in return.
login, use a server-side SDK or the mobile (native) SDK
so you can store the long-term tokens. See umbel.com/
2. Limit your Facebook permissions resources/best-practices/storing-facebook-tokens
No user wants to feel as though a website is asking for
more personal information than they need. Only ask for
8. Ask for the “BELL” permissions.
data that you are actually using.
To ask for the least amount of permissions to get the most
beneficial audience insight, Birthday, Email, Location and
3. Don’t require an additional Likes are the four key permissions a website or app should
password specific to your site ask for. See umbel.com/resources/best-practices/bell
Requiring an additional site password as part of the
Facebook login process generates a number of confusing
challenges where the user might be authenticated via
Facebook, but not logged in to your site with Facebook. It’s birthday email
best to keep it simple.
4. Offer Facebook Login during your
checkout process
This gives the user an easy and quick option to create an
location likes
account without interfering with the checkout process,
reducing shopping cart abandonment.
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6. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used
Social Authentication Tool
Reference Materials:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_login ABOUT UMBEL
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebooks-45-billion-secret-
weapon-2012-09-27 Umbel is an audience measurement company that
helps publishers and content providers demonstrate
http://www.silverpop.com/blogs/email-marketing/social-login-
data-capture.html the value of their audience by unlocking deep insights
from social media and big data. Umbel empowers
http://www.sociablelabs.com/blog/bid/218421/Study-on-Log-In-
with-Facebook-and-the-2012-Internet-Retailer-500 clients to discover leads and expose premium
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/28/ audience segments with real-time audience data.
how-social-login-is-changing-business-and-your-privacy/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240529702046536045772
49341403742390.html
© 2012 Umbel Corp. All Rights Reserved.
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7. UMBEL > RESOURCES > BEST PRACTICES www.umbel.com
Social Login 101
Why Facebook is the Most Widely-Used
Social Authentication Tool
“10,000 new properties a day implement Facebook login.”
“Social login simplifies the registration
experience for users.”
“Social login unlocks invaluable
audience insight for digital property
owners.”
“Companies who have implemented social login have seen
conversions increase between 10 percent and 50 percent.”
“3 out of every 4 Internet users leave a
website rather than take the trouble to
register a new account.”
Contact sales@umbel.com to learn more.