Facebook is AOL all over again. They are creating a generation of users who will resist moving to a different platform, and a cadre of products that will either find their fates hitched to those of Facebook or dependent on an expensive (in terms of money and users) move away from Facebook at some point in the future.
Personally, I like the Joel test for abstraction/outsourcing. Identify your core competency, then go one layer below it in the stack. That's how deep you should go in-house. I think for many sites/apps, user accounts fall within this realm. That doesn't mean you can't interoperate, but don't be solely dependent on FB.
Personally, I like the Joel test for abstraction/outsourcing. Identify your core competency, then go one layer below it in the stack. That's how deep you should go in-house. I think for many sites/apps, user accounts fall within this realm. That doesn't mean you can't interoperate, but don't be solely dependent on FB.