Facebook introduced new features on Wednesday that allow users to limit the personal information they share with third-party mobile apps, in order to put down privacy concerns as the social media giant seeks to become a top entry port to the Internet.
In last few years, Facebook has successfully encouraged a growing number of third-party app makers allowing users to log in with their Facebook identity and that users don’t need to enter an email address or create a dedicated account for it.
This although brings a flood of valuable data for the world’s No. 1 social network, but then the issue is even the third-party developers are gaining access to private information.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said at Facebook’s developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday that a new version of Facebook’s log-in tool, called “log in anonymously,” would allow users to control what information they allow third-party apps to see. He told developers the tool would let users feel more comfortable about logging into apps using Facebook.
“By giving people more power and control, they’re going to trust all the apps that we build more, and over time use them more. And that’s positive for everyone,” said Zuckerberg.
The revamped log-in screen will allow users to select which personal information stored on the social network can be accessed by any particular app. These information could be anything , an email address, birthday or items that they have “liked” on Facebook.
The user’s names and gender will remain visible to the app.
On Wednesday, the social network also rolled out a new service to distribute ads across a network of mobile applications, opening the door to a new source of revenue. This new service will allow mobile-app makers to insert various ads within their software, with Facebook sharing advertising dollars with the developers.
“This is really the first time that we’re going to help you monetize in a serious way on mobile,” Zuckerberg said.
