CNN - Facebook makes it easier for users to share interests across web
CNN reports: "Facebook on Wednesday announced plans to turn the web into one big cocktail party [...] 'We're building toward a web where the default is social. Every application and product will be redesigned from the ground up to use a person's real identity and friends.'"

Comment: I find two things interesting about this. First, that it's all keyed to your identity. In other words, this is not anonymous aggregate data, it's very specifically tied to your likes, dislikes, favorite sites, and social network. It's all about you and the people you know. It's an advertisers dream, and a totalitarian governments holy grail. As Facebook expands into less than free countries we will have to watch how they manage government requests for this data. As Google demonstrated this week, there is a rising tide of government attempts to access user data, and we can only assume this trend will increase over time.

Second, this is a good example of a new trend online that allows you to interact with sites using your social network identity. In other words, you are already authenticated as a trusted user by virtue of your social network membership. Is it at all unreasonable to imagine a future in which the market uses similar authentication for consumers? If social networks like FB add a payment platform this will be something with profound implications. It would probably start out with mobile commerce, using your cell phone to make purchases billed to your social network account, but augmented reality apps and bluetooth connectivity could easily allow mobile assisted checkout at standard brick-and-mortar stores in much the same way a supermarket scanner can now scan a coupon directly off your cell phone.

It's not the app platform that matters, it's the concept that your identity and secure payment info are encoded in an object (with you, in you or on you) that can be easily scanned and authenticated.