Many readers have had questions about the recent integrations with Facebook and Twitter. When we launched the new site we wanted to allow new users the ability to login using their Facebook or Twitter user names and passwords. The reason for this was very simple: we didn't want to force new users to create yet another login and password if they didn't feel the need. Pseudonymous users or any user that wanted to maintain a separate login can do so. Logging in to Daily Kos using your Facebook or Twitter login is completely voluntary.
We also do not store your Facebook or Twitter login id or password, Facebook and Twitter do. We're only connecting to their API to verify that Facebook and Twitter agree that you are whom you say you are.
If you're a current Daily Kos user and a Facebook user, you can link your Facebook account to your Daily Kos account. What does this do? Not much right now.
If you're a current Daily Kos user and a Twitter user, you can link your Twitter account to your Daily Kos account. What does this do? Not much right now, but a button will appear on your profile page that will allow readers to follow you on Twitter.
Not too far down the road we're going to integrate Facebook and Twitter into our publishing interface so that users can share their Daily Kos content on other social networks directly when they publish a new diary. Again, this is all voluntary.
The other question we're getting involves the Facebook social plugin or activity feed at the bottom right on some pages. If a reader is logged in to Facebook when visiting Daily Kos, Facebook will recognize that user is logged in to Facebook. Facebook will then show you, and you only, what your friends in your Facebook network are sharing or "liking" on Daily Kos. This view is unique to you and only appears if you have a Facebook account and are logged in when visiting Daily Kos. You can read more about it here .
Here's how Facebook describes it:
The Activity Feed plugin displays the most interesting recent activity taking place on your site. Since the content is hosted by Facebook, the plugin can display personalized content whether or not the user has logged into your site. The activity feed displays stories both when users like content on your site and when users share content from your site back to Facebook. If a user is logged into Facebook, the plugin will be personalized to highlight content from their friends. If the user is logged out, the activity feed will show recommendations from your site, and give the user the option to log in to Facebook.
The plugin is filled with activity from the user's friends. If there isn't enough friend activity to fill the plugin, it is backfilled with recommendations. If you set the recommendations param to true, the plugin is split in half, showing friends activity in the top half, and recommendations in the bottom half. If there is not enough friends activity to fill half of the plugin, it will include more recommendations.
Due to some confusing nomenclature issues, we're going to change the Facebook "recommend" button that's under story headlines to "like." That change will happen sometime today.
Now why are we doing all this? As many of you have probably read, Facebook and Twitter are becoming a larger and larger referrer of traffic to news and information sites. Daily Kos is no different. Both are top 5 referrers of readers to our site. Some of our most active community members are probably active on those social networks. We know they are, but it is hard to quantify that specifically. So we want to make it easier for those on other social networks to share their content and stories they're reading on Daily Kos.
Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be sure to answer them in the comments.