You can find social log-in buttons on websites of all stripes, encouraging you to sign in through Facebook, Google or other social platforms. However, according to an article this week in The Wall Street Journal, many users and businesses alike have steadily shied away from the feature for fear of their information being compromised.

“A few years ago, there was a frenzy, but the interest has peaked,” said Sucharita Mulpuru-Kodali, an analyst at Forrester Research. Forrester recently conducted a study among businesses regarding their use of social log-ins. “There’s the fear of, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to click something and God knows what’s going to show up on my Facebook wall.’ ”

While one-click sign-ins to many different websites can have obvious time-saving benefits for users, many people are afraid of both what they’re agreeing to by clicking the link and what could potentially show up on their Facebook profile as a result. Similarly, according to the article, businesses are hesitant to allow Facebook to post social-log ins on their sites because of the potential data ramifications. Most sites want information about their users to themselves, and they don’t want to share it with Facebook for free.

Readers: are you comfortable using social log-ins on your favorite websites?

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