Google+ Adds Sign-In Features

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Google+ is getting a new sign-in feature. Google has made it possible for websites and mobile apps to allow their users to log in with their Google+ account name and password. The change moves Google+ into more direct competition with Facebook and Twitter, which offer similar sign-in features for third-party developers.

ReadWriteWeb’s Dan Lyons reported, “Slowly but surely, Google keeps building out its Google+ social network and becoming a stronger rival to Facebook. Today the company is announcing the ability to let people sign in on websites with their Google+ credentials instead of creating a unique user name and password.”

Mashable’s Lance Ulanoff noted, “Google describes it as a new way for developers to connect the larger Google experience with their applications. If developers choose to enable Google+ Sign-In, their products can access virtually anything in the Google API. At a basic level, this includes full name, profile picture, Google+ ID, age range, language, people in their Circles, other public information and any other information specifically requested by the app. This can be combined with other Google APIs to access addition Google services (Gmail, Calendar, etc.) via a separate consent dialogue box. Like Facebook Connect, this sign-in-anywhere scenario turns the exchange of information into a two-lane highway: with your Google+ information coming into the app, and activity flowing out of the app and potentially onto your Google+ social network.”

CNET’s Declan McCullagh added, “Some of the other companies that have already incorporated Google+ sign-ins are TheFancy.com, Flixster.com, the UK Guardian newspaper, and USA Today. Michael Silverman, co-founder of TheFancy.com, said in a new YouTube video that Google+ is a ‘better’ way to sign on to his company’s site because ‘you don’t have to create a whole new username and password — you just click the button and you’re ready to go.'”

VentureBeat’s Jolie O’Dell observed, “The question is, will developers in a saturated world of Twitter and Facebook login buttons be willing to hop onboard with yet another system?”