FACEBOOK CONNECT AND OPEN GRAPH TO BECOME THE STANDARD FOR NEW WEB STARTUPS?

Facebook is continuing to move forward with initiatives to spread its platform outside the walls of Facebook. The early implementations of Facebook connect by third-party sites focused primarily on allowing users to register and login via Facebook, rather than having to register through the site itself, but new implementations are taking things much further. Check out a couple shining examples below of how Facebook Connect is being utilized by new startups that you may or may not have heard of yet.

1. Thread.com - Thread is a new service that allows users to meet friends of friends through their social circle, all utilizing Facebook's social graph. When you sign in to Thread, you will see which of your Facebook friends are already using Thread, how many friends of friends are using Thread, and can invite any of your Facebook friends you want to participate directly. Thread's integration goes way beyond traditional Facebook Connect, and shows us a preview of just how powerful Facebook Connect can be as a tool for new startups to build off of.

2. TheHotlist.com - The Hotlist a startup that you may not have heard of, founded by NYU students. I first learned of The Hotlist while it was in development a couple years back, and today is another great example of a platform that leverage Facebook Connect. Like Thread, the only way to register on The Hotlist is by signing in with Facebook. Where The Hotlist focuses is on giving users a deeper look at the events and happenings going on in their neighborhood or on their college campus based on what their Facebook friends are up to.

Today Facebook also unveiled their plans to extend more Facebook functionality to third-party websites through the use of their new Open Graph API. Open Graph is a ways away from going live, but the general idea is to let third-party sites integrate Facebook-like features that resemble Facebook Fan Pages on their own external sites. As the months go by, we are seeing more and more signs that Facebook is heading in the direction that many speculated back when Facebook Connect debuted, to allow the entire web to leverage their user's social graphs to enhance the experience on third-party sites, build trust between users and facilitate transactions all over the web. With Facebook now also making user email addresses available to third-party sites who use Facebook Connect to register, the popularity of Facebook Connect should continue to skyrocket. See CNET's coverage for more updates on today's events.