The real power of Facebook lies in controlling connected identity

In 2008, when Facebook introduced Facebook Connect, a way for folks to use their Facebook credentials to other websites and services, it was pretty obvious what Mark Zuckerberg’s long term goal was: controlling the identity infrastructure of the web. Once you do that, then you get access to all sorts of data and you are always relevant.

The mobile app revolution has only accelerated the adoption as more and more apps are using Facebook’s connected identity. Just like search is a core infrastructure service of the web, so is Facebook’s connected identity technology. And because they have more data, they’re going to be more valuable and will help new kinds of transactions – whether they are purely social or purely economical. That was essentially what I thought it would be back in 2008. Now let’s see if the future works out according to plan.