Facebook Rolls Out New Login Privacy Controls

At F8, Facebook introduced new mobile privacy tools, and a mobile ad business called Audience Network.

Facebook on Wednesday introduced a host of new privacy tools for mobile app users, including the ability to log in anonymously for the first time, offering much more granular control over how their data is shared when using apps on the social network.

Kicking off the F8 developer conference in San Francisco, CEO Mark Zuckerberg presented a picture of a maturing, post-IPO Facebook that's more interested in "stability" than the "breaking things" mission it embraced in its early days. Indeed, Facebook's chief is about to turn 30 and his company recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, so it seems appropriate to put some childish things away, Zuckerberg implied.

Zuckerberg also addressed Facebook users' persistent privacy concerns with a more frank and sympathetic tone than he generally has in the past.

"At Facebook, we serve a lot of groups, including developers, advertisers, and employees—but the most important group we serve is the people who use our products," Zuckerberg said. "And we must always put those people first. People want more control over how they share their information, especially with apps, and they want more control how apps share their data."

To that end, Facebook is rolling out a much more granular control center for deciding what data, if any, users would like to share when logging in to use an app on the site. Users prompted with the familiar blue "Login with Facebook" button when launching an app will now be able to access a comprehensive list of data-sharing permissions—for example their email address—which they can either choose to let an app share or not.

What's more, Facebook users will be able to launch apps without sharing any data at all with the site or other users via a new Anonymous Login option, Zuckerberg said. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, other Facebook users will no longer be able to share your data through their use of apps on the platform.

"Up until now, your friends have been able to share your data via using apps. Now we're changing this, so everybody controls how their data is shared with apps, even ones others are using," Zuckerberg said. "With the new Login, I can sign in on my own terms. I can uncheck boxes I don't want to share. We've heard really clearly about how you want more control with how you're sharing with apps, and this new Login gives you that control."

How much of this comes from a newfound appreciation for privacy versus simple economics is up for debate. Zuckerberg alluded to a "fear" some users have about ever clicking a Login with Facebook button. So it may be that as much as the social giant and its partners would like to keep strip-mining the data of app users, there's a more pressing problem of getting a lot more users to start launching apps in the first place.

Mobility and Stability
Underpinning much of what's being discussed at F8 is the fact that Facebook's mobile revenue has surpassed revenue generated via the desktop version of the site, and now represents some 59 percent of the company's overall sales income.

F8, returning to the San Francisco Design Center's Concourse Exhibition Center for the first time since September 2011, will focus squarely on Facebook's mobile ecosystem and ways the company can help developers build, grow, and monetize their apps, Zuckerberg said.

There were some key new tools and services for mobile app developers announced at F8, including improvements to Facebook's Parse development platform and the launch of a full-blown mobile ad business called Audience Network.

In addition to the focus on mobility, a second theme here at F8 is "stability," characterized by Zuckerberg's pledge to honor a new "service level agreement" to "fix major bugs within 48 hours" and a "core API stability guarantee" to support all official, non-beta software building blocks for a minimum of two years after they're released.

It wasn't immediately clear if those promises will be added to Facebook's contractual obligations to developers or are more of a gentleman's agreement. Whatever the case, the stability pledge and a lot more that was revealed at this year's F8 speak to a company that's moved well beyond being a brash, young upstart in Silicon Valley, said IDC analyst Al Hilwa.

"I thought this was a really reflective moment for the company with its 10th anniversary upon it. There is a distinct air of maturity in the way the company is approaching its developer ecosystem," Hilwa said.

"This maturity is apparent in technologies like API versioning and handling offline requirements for mobile apps. But also in the set of technologies focused on improving user trust of Facebook and apps using its APIs and capabilities. There is lots of investment in the Parse MBaaS service across the board, but also tying it closely to the Facebook ecosystem of developers."

Meanwhile, though F8 has been an on-again-off-again event since the first one in 2007, Zuckerberg wrapped up his talk by informing the crowd that the developer conference will be an annual fixture in the spring quarter going forward. Next year's F8 will move San Francisco venues to the Fort Mason complex, he said, and will be held on March 25, 2015.