Study: Consumers prefer social sign-in over site registration
A new study from Janrain and Blue Research concludes that for online publishers, site registrations are out and social sign-on is in.
In the study, released today, three-quarters of respondents said they don’t like online registrations and, when presented with a registration request, may leave the site, go to a different site, or not return to the site. More than three-quarters of the respondents admitted to putting incomplete or incorrect information in an online registration form. And 45% said they had left a website after forgetting their password or log-in information rather than answering a security question or re-setting their password.
The flip side is that these respondents seem far more open to using existing social network identities to log onto 
other websites. Two-thirds (66%) said they believe companies should offer the ability to sign in using an existing social network or email account. More than half (55%) said they were more likely to return to a site that automatically recognizes their identity.
Social sign-on/sign-in also appears to help a company’s brand image: 42 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that companies offering a social sign-in option “are more up-to-date, innovative and leave a positive impression compared to those which do not offer this capability.”
One thing to note is that the respondents – more than 650 in total – were pre-screened as “social media active,” so it’s not surprising that social sign-on would present a more desirable option for this segment. Nevertheless, with a growing percentage of the online population joining Facebook and other social networks, it's clear that social sign-on presents an attractive option for publishers looking to streamline the user experience while still gaining access to a valuable trove of visitor information.
Publishers seem to be recognizing the opportunity. Research released last September by Gigya and Edge Research found that 60 percent of publishers have implemented or are in the process of implementing social sign-in options on their websites.
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It would have been really interesting if you could give your perspective is what it would mean for publishers -- and how it impacts their marketing, particularly if they no longer have access to e-mail details of the user.
Manoj
www.ontarget-media.com
@Manoj: As you might have noticed, eMedia Vitals uses social sign on, for the reasons laid out in Rob's post. However, as a B2B publication, our ability to market to our audience is critical. So, social sign on is our first and lowest hurdle. While we can't send an email, we at least have a reasonable expectation that they are a real person and not an SEO drone just trying to build backlinks from a profile page. We do promote our newsletters at the point of registration, and the take rate is quite high. When someone engages us at a higher level by downloading a Publisher's Playbook, we collect email and other information. It's reasonable for people to demand something of value in exchange for a valid email, and quality content, properly packaged, is certainly something that most publishers can offer.