Ask HN: Do you have a Twitter account? How about a Facebook?

4 points·jmonegro··6 comments

I'm contemplating the use of Twitter for user authentication, as I don't want the trouble of handling user data.<p>I was wondering how high would it make my app's barrier of entry if I use Twitter for auth, or Facebook.<p>Thanks!

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Take this for what it is (a single anecdotal datapoint), but while I have both a Twitter account and a Facebook account (and an OpenID), I still prefer logging in with site-specific usernames. If your service is really compelling, I'd possibly use my Twitter or Facebook accounts to log in, but I've passed on other services in the past (at the point of signup) that used Twitter and Facebook auth (and, ostensibly, they used those auth methods with the express intent of eliminating friction).

I have Facebook, but for all intents and purposes, I treat it as if it doesn't exist. If your app needs me to log in with Facebook, I won't use it.

Likewise, I have Twitter. I use it daily. However, if your app isn't related to Twitter and needs me to log in with my Twitter account, I won't use it.

Neither of these sites are ones that I particularly want to see turn into a generic identity for the internet.

You may want to consider something like OpenID instead. http://openid.net/

I'm very (very,very) reluctant to use a ID for twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc., on a third-party site. Your site has to have gained some level of trust for me to do so. However, something like OpenID would provide that trust.

I have 2 twitter accts; one is for a non-profit organization, one is personal. I don't have one for my company. I have a personal fb account, but, again, not for my company.

I'm not particularly good about keeping up with them.

How about an "I have neither" option?

done.

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