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Always Logged In

January 26, 2009

Technology

As I have been talking about recently the best social networks are the ones that arise to challenges when you need them to and are nowhere to be found when you do not need them as is the emerging case with Gmail as a social network. I have been thinking about this further with the recent addition of YouTube videos being available within Gmail as a quicker way to see videos shared from friends. Google recognizes the Always Logged In behavior and it adaptive their services to work better with and for users.

I have found that now more than ever I am automatically browsing the web and at an “always logged in” status with many services. Currently those services inlclude; Google, Twitter, my blog, Delicious, Yahoo, and Zoho. Each has their own reason for remaining constantly logged, but 6 services is definitely more than it used to be. At certain times other enterprise software sites or individual web services remain logged in simply because I either forget to log out, or I need them for work I am completing at that time.

Looking at the world through an “always logged in” filter makes things slightly different both from a UI perspective and how important information is surfaced. As we continue to broadcast location, preference, mood, and actions on a regular basis I see this logged feature happening more.

It was not long ago that “always connected” was something new with updates for your browser, anti virus, even your OS becoming more normal. Now with always being logged on changes behavior even further by always having access to your data on another network, in the cloud, keep in touch, and simply use web services the way they are intended. Tracking your movements around the web, sharing your visits with a website publisher, helping target advertising are all after effects of an always connected + always logged in experience.

I am not sure where this is all going but its an exciting ride to see how my own behavior has changed with the advent of such options.

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  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Its a great feature that leads to you never seeing certain parts of a
    website again. I talked about the importance of logging into your service
    or app with no data – something a lot of people forget about. When its
    empty and baron it is very different from a fully functional project
    management app with “todo's” and “action items” everywhere. I think this is
    why 37 Signals has done so well with its products – they look good empty.

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Its a great feature that leads to you never seeing certain parts of a
    website again. I talked about the importance of logging into your service
    or app with no data – something a lot of people forget about. When its
    empty and baron it is very different from a fully functional project
    management app with “todo's” and “action items” everywhere. I think this is
    why 37 Signals has done so well with its products – they look good empty.

  • http://thefuturebuzz.com Adam Singer

    The always logged in is such a great thing that Firefox has allowed for ages with the remember password feature. Even on sites that log you out, they make it easy to get in quickly. This fluid experience is what has made the web even more efficient for marketers and content creators. I can only see it getting more integrated.

  • http://thefuturebuzz.com AdamSinger

    The always logged in is such a great thing that Firefox has allowed for ages with the remember password feature. Even on sites that log you out, they make it easy to get in quickly. This fluid experience is what has made the web even more efficient for marketers and content creators. I can only see it getting more integrated.

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Its a great feature that leads to you never seeing certain parts of a
    website again. I talked about the importance of logging into your service
    or app with no data – something a lot of people forget about. When its
    empty and baron it is very different from a fully functional project
    management app with “todo's” and “action items” everywhere. I think this is
    why 37 Signals has done so well with its products – they look good empty.

  • http://thefuturebuzz.com AdamSinger

    The always logged in is such a great thing that Firefox has allowed for ages with the remember password feature. Even on sites that log you out, they make it easy to get in quickly. This fluid experience is what has made the web even more efficient for marketers and content creators. I can only see it getting more integrated.

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Ha! Yeah I would not advise this type of activity from a public computer or
    any shared computer. With personal laptops that nobody else uses there are
    probably many other services that I am logged into at any given time than
    the few I mentioned above.

  • http://jeremystein.tumblr.com jeremystein

    this post reminds me of a collegehumor article: http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1769611

  • http://jeremystein.tumblr.com jeremystein

    this post reminds me of a collegehumor article: http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1769611

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Ha! Yeah I would not advise this type of activity from a public computer or
    any shared computer. With personal laptops that nobody else uses there are
    probably many other services that I am logged into at any given time than
    the few I mentioned above.

  • http://jeremystein.tumblr.com jeremystein

    this post reminds me of a collegehumor article: http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1769611

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Its a great feature that leads to you never seeing certain parts of a
    website again. I talked about the importance of logging into your service
    or app with no data – something a lot of people forget about. When its
    empty and baron it is very different from a fully functional project
    management app with “todo's” and “action items” everywhere. I think this is
    why 37 Signals has done so well with its products – they look good empty.

  • http://thefuturebuzz.com AdamSinger

    The always logged in is such a great thing that Firefox has allowed for ages with the remember password feature. Even on sites that log you out, they make it easy to get in quickly. This fluid experience is what has made the web even more efficient for marketers and content creators. I can only see it getting more integrated.

  • http://www.marketing.fm EricFriedman

    Ha! Yeah I would not advise this type of activity from a public computer or
    any shared computer. With personal laptops that nobody else uses there are
    probably many other services that I am logged into at any given time than
    the few I mentioned above.

  • http://jeremystein.tumblr.com jeremystein

    this post reminds me of a collegehumor article: http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1769611