The value of Facebook's users is that the overwhelming majority of them are real. People use their real names, and hook up with their real friends, resulting in a real social graph.
But if Facebook becomes the single-sign-on provider, the identity provider, for a majority of blogs and forums and other venues where people today participate anonymously, then Facebook will start seeing a huge number of fake profiles appear as people make multiple identities to preserve their privacy and anonymity, and the more those fake profiles are used, the less the real userbase will be worth, which ultimately threatens their bottom line.
The value of Facebook's users is that the overwhelming majority of them are real. People use their real names, and hook up with their real friends, resulting in a real social graph.
But if Facebook becomes the single-sign-on provider, the identity provider, for a majority of blogs and forums and other venues where people today participate anonymously, then Facebook will start seeing a huge number of fake profiles appear as people make multiple identities to preserve their privacy and anonymity, and the more those fake profiles are used, the less the real userbase will be worth, which ultimately threatens their bottom line.