Social logins, often referred to as OpenID, have been a big part of creating a unified authentication source and a general sense of identity for people on the internet in recent years. What this concept involves is using one of your profiles on a social media site as a way to log into any other independent website which requires membership.
That way a user doesn’t have to create dozens of different profiles and remember numerous login details for all of them. Rather, they have a central node for being identity validation. Social media profiles that can be used include (also quoting their current market shares):
* Facebook – 49%
* Google – 31%
* Twitter – 7%
* Yahoo – 7%
* Microsoft – 2%
* Others – 4%
Google Gaining Ground
As one would’ve guessed, Facebook has the lion’s share of the OpenID market. But according to new figures gathered by Janrain – a company which spearheaded the social login movement- Google has been gaining popularity. Growing a full 6% and causing Facebook’s market share to drop from its all-time high of last year.
The trend does make quite a lot of sense considering that Google itself has a blanket identification system which gives users access to all their various tools including: Gmail, YouTube, My Drive, Calendars and G+. It would follow that users would be more interested in having websites being able to interact with that type of personal data and resources rather than a social channel such as Facebook which, while still personal, is typically considered more public.
Market Share Still Dependent on Devices and Geography
Of course, one would also think due to the highly interactive nature between Google and Android OS and its rising popularity as a mobile platform that Google would also be making waves in that area. However, this is where Facebook is still the most dominant, with as much as 68% of the market, leaving Google battling with Twitter for a paltry 16% and 11% respectively.
Locality also seems to factor in, as many countries prefer to use their own country’s popular social logins- perhaps more out of habit and language than anything else. For instance in Russia, VK is actually the preferred social platform with which to log in.
It still remains to be seen whether these market shares will level off from here or if Google will continue to grow and take more Facebook business. If so, it could represent a more serious shift in social media that could end up rivalling the fall of former social media juggernaut MySpace.