Facebook on Feb. 19 launched Comments Box, the first social widget for its
Facebook Connect application.
Facebook Connect allows users to sign on to other sites and blogs using
their Facebook account information. Comments Box would allow these users to
post comments on not only the outside Web site, but also their Facebook
profiles, where they could be shared with other subscribers.
The widget will be customizable, allowing developers to specify background
and text color and moderate comments.
According to Facebook, Comments Box fulfills a demonstrated need on the part
of users.
"One of the most common features we've seen sites add with Facebook
Connect is the ability to allow users to log in with a single click and comment
with their real name and profile photo from their Facebook account," Ray
He, a Facebook engineer, wrote on the Facebook Developers blog Feb. 19.
"Sites have seen as much as [40 to 50 percent] more comments since they …
added these features."
Some 6,000 developers have utilized Facebook Connect for their Web sites. In
recent months, Facebook has increasingly opened itself to tinkering. On Feb. 9,
Facebook
announced new APIs for Facebook Platform that allowed developers to access
content and methods for sharing for Facebook Status, Notes, Links and Video.
The Comments Box announcement caps a relatively tough
week for the social networking giant: Facebook
wrestled with an enormous subscriber backlash after changing its Terms of
Service to state that it owned any content uploaded to the site, even after
subscribers have closed their accounts. Facebook quickly retreated to the
previous version of its TOS.
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Messaging & Online Collaboration News & Reviews 
