Consumers are beginning to struggle with creating and remembering more and more passwords and would prefer the option of being able to use their social media logins across a number of sites to simplify their online lives, according to a study commissioned by user management platform Janrain.
The strain of having to remember more and more unique username and password combinations leads many to abandon a website during sign-in.
The results, which come from a larger study, "Consumer Perceptions of Social Login," found that more than half of the 660 participants had more than five passwords and logins they needed to remember on a daily basis in addition to logins for social media sites.
The strain of having to remember more and more unique username and password combinations means that 92 percent of respondents admitted abandoning a website during sign-in rather than going through the added effort of resetting or recovering their password information.
Social media login favored
But as well as password fatigue, the study also underlines the growing importance of social networks, with 65 percent of those surveyed agreeing they are more likely to return to sites that allow them to sign in with their social media login details.
Consumers also appear to be happy to share personal information with websites via their social media profiles, in return for a personalized experience and targeted advertising. In all, 52 percent of respondents said they used social login when it is an option and 67 percent of users said they found this type of personalization attractive. Almost four in five (78%) admitted navigating to a site after it was mentioned by someone in their social network.
Moving away from the password
Simplifying or even eradicating traditional passwords is a hot topic at the moment. In October the UK government announced it was considering allowing access to its online services via Facebook and Twitter IDs in a bid to simplify the process of creating and remembering passwords and log-in names, while in January, Google published a white paper detailing its plans to abolish the password once and for all in favor of a physical token or key that would plug into a device and provide authentication.