Project instructions site eHow.com has announced that Facebook Login will become its exclusive login and registration method starting in February. Those without a Facebook account won’t be able to access the site, and all its existing proprietary user profiles, along with their private messages, uploaded content, and subscriptions will be deleted.
While the authenticated identity of Facebook profiles may improve submission quality, the switch is likely to anger the eleven year-old site’s core users. Exclusive use of Facebook Login is better for new sites, those without significant existing user content, or those with a plan to more gracefully migrate their service.
eHow.com has had a strong year, increasing its monthly unique visitors from 25 million to nearly 40 million by some reports . This makes such an abrupt and major change a curious choice. eHow.com already offers Facebook as a login option, and the site’s success to date shows it doesn’t depend on the social graph.
Suddenly, users have been given only six days to archive any content they wish to keep. eHow.com appears to have chosen not to announce the change on their blog or via any home page signage, instead opting to send an email today. Users not paying close attention to their email could come back next month to find that important conversations, how-to videos they’ve posted, and all their existing activity on the site has disappeared.
Rather than rebuild their on-site network from the subset of people they’re Facebook friends with, I believe many will leave the site for good or drastically reduce their engagement. eHow.com’s users appear to agree, as the response to the entry on how to log in via Facebook has been overwhelmingly negative.
Other websites should learn a lesson from eHow.com’s seemingly unwise decision. Though Facebook Login offers many advantages, users currently aren’t always comfortable bringing their real identity outside of the canvas, and are rarely keen on having their content deleted.
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