facebook connect simply provides a site with the user’s Facebook ID and the FBID of their friends, which can be used just like a unique username and/or email address.

this results in a much lower barrier to entry for users, which should result with more engagement in your app. that’s a win-win for facebook, users and developers…

but it’s also probably a huge loss to openid

Most people i know have a hard enough time following every cough and sneeze announced in the fb news feed. I can’t even imagine what would happen if they started bringing in outside content.

Also, It boggles my mind that (aside from the established media companies) 3/4 of the “select” partners mentioned have no consistent (if any) revenue streams. IMHO, the majority of the companies on that list need to stop worrying about integration into other sites, and figure out a way to make money. Perhaps if they did that, they wouldn’t need to tap into everyone else’s platform as a primary means of growth and expansion.

All that said…. i do agree 110% that the next wave needs to focus on personal relevancy in all aspects of content delivery.