Facebook Gets A Browser

The social networking site is rolling out a system that allows users to browse other sites, turning it slowly into a Web portal.

They’re calling it Facebook Connect, and it might well be the first stage in turning the social networking site into a Web portal. For the moment the number of sites Facebook users can access with their login information is limited to news site Digg, video site Hulu and the Discovery Channel, the BBC reports, but that will certainly grow.

Users can also see what their friends have been doing on those other sites.

But Facebook is trailing the pack in this, as MySpace already has a similar system in place. For users it gives them a chance to join up with friends to, say, watch a video on Hulu together and discuss it in real time.

Making the site into a Web portal should make it more attractive to advertisers. But after the PR disaster of the Beacon project, where personal data on users was shared without permission, Facebook is being very careful this time. Each potential partner site will be vetted and asked what they will do with the user data that’s gathered.