Facebook has given an easy way for its users to sign up and sign in on websites and apps.
As long as those third-parties use the Facebook Login feature, signing up and signing in is just as easy as pressing a button. However, knowing that there are tons of websites and apps out there, it's pretty easy for any Facebook user to forget where they've used their Facebook credentials for signing in.
Here, Facebook announced the 'Login Notifications' feature that sends notification whenever Facebook users use their credentials on third-party websites and apps.
This way, users can have an added layer of protection that gives them the necessary information if they forget, or in cases like unauthorized access.
This feature is also giving users more control, which should be a good thing.
For example, the notification that can be delivered via email or the Facebook app, shows what kind of details Facebook shared with the third-party app or website.
"We understand there are sensitivities to people’s information privacy and related information and are taking active steps to honor and improve this in our products. We will continue to test additional user control features in early 2020, including bringing permissions to the forefront of the user experience when logging into a 3rd party app with Facebook Login," said Facebook's software engineer Puxuan Qi.
Users should get the notification the first time they use their Facebook credentials with a website or app, and when they reuse it later after that website's or app's access to users' information expired.
Login Notifications also offers a handy button to the Settings menu if users want to remove access, for example. It’s a small change, but overall, it should help many people get an accurate notion of just how much information they’re sharing.
In other words, Login Notifications should be useful for a lot of Facebook users.
It should be noted that users can also see which website or app has access to their Facebook credentials by accessing Facebook's Privacy Checkup.
Facebook is the social giant that reaches almost every corners of the web and mobile.
With its array of apps, most notably, the Facebook core app, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, the tech giant is capable of sustaining its business mode by distributing and shifting user data to its advertising partners. For many reasons, this business model is profiting massively, and Facebook wants to keep it that way.
With the easiness of Facebook Login in many websites and apps, users simply provide Facebook with more data.
With Facebook Login, not only users are offering that site access to their data, but also adding yet more information to the pile Facebook already has.
For some people, that's already obvious. But to most people, according to a Pew study in October 2019. a large number of users aren’t aware of the fact that Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp. Another study from in January 2019 showed that three-quarters of respondents didn’t realize how much data Facebook has on them, and over half weren’t comfortable with it once they were informed.
Facebook‘s made an effort to appeal those masses, by ensuring that it can secure its users information. One of which, is through the Privacy Checkup tool for example.
But still, Facebook's influence over the web and mobile is astonishingly big. The more data is put up online and shared, no matter how good Facebook or users in securing them, there are always chances of data leak.
Read: On The Internet, Be Very Careful: Maintain Privacy By Limiting What You Give