Social Logins: Facebook May Not Be Too Big to Fail

New research from Gigya shows that although Facebook remains the dominant social login, Google+ is making gains in North America, Europe, and for e-commerce sites.

While Facebook remains the dominant social login, Google+ has made strong gains, according to a new report from Gigya.

Social logins, which let site visitors register and log into sites and apps via a third-party social media site, reduce barriers to entry and, more importantly, let web publishers access the rich profile data held by the social network.

While Facebook and Google+ offer publishers similar profile info, Facebook’s is a bit richer, according to Gigya’s analysis; Facebook includes activities and interests, possibly among the most useful profile data.

Providing identity services, aka social logins, benefit social networks, according to John Elkaim, vice president of marketing for Gigya, because the sharing about user interest and activities goes both ways, allowing the provider to better tune its own service. “You can understand how people are behaving outside your web property, which is a very important thing for developing your product,” he points out. “You want to understand how the whole ecosystem works. That also allows them to solve needs for their clients, serving better ads, and for users, they can engage them better with better content.”

gigyasociallogin1

Gigya analyzed data from Q3 2013 among customers using its Connected Consumer Management Suite and found that Google+ increased its share of logins by 2 percent globally, to a total of 27 percent. While Facebook still holds a majority of logins globally, its share dipped below 50 percent in North America — and the company says that North America tends to be a bellwether.

In Europe, Facebook held 52 percent of all social logins; Google+ was next at 19 percent; the Russian social network Vkontakte handled 13 percent; Twitter took 8 percent; and Yahoo accounted for a mere 6 percent.

Media and publisher sites were the most non-monogamous in seeking identity services. Here, Facebook handles only 44 percent of logins, while scrappy Yahoo increased its login share to 22 percent.

Elkaim thinks that a backlash against the recent revelations about NSA monitoring may benefit niche, local social networks such as Vkontakte and Orkut, which currently has a negligible login share, but is popular in Brazil. “A lot of local players can become identity providers. We think there will be a back-to-local movement and local niche networks that will expand their identity role,” he says.

Google+ also ate into Facebook’s share of logins for e-commerce sites, adding 5 percent in share for a total of 17 percent. PayPal accounted for 2 percent of logins. Gigya says this is the first time it’s seen PayPal at more than 1 percent, and that this indicates that payment providers may move into identity provision.

Payment providers like PayPal have a strong play as digital media and commerce move to mobile, according to Elkaim, because they can not only facilitate login or registration, but also actual shopping. “Because you have a social login, I can tie it to a payment card, and you can check out with one click. We all would love that relief.”

Of course, Google has long provided an online payments system, and its stewardship of the Android operating system might give it an edge in mobile payments, according to Elkaim. The question, he says, is, “Who’s going to win that race? Will it be a payment provider, or someone who already owns identity, like Facebook or Google?”

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource