Why Yahoo! should accept OpenID

As the years have gone by, I’ve become more and more hesitant to create yet another online account somewhere. I’m tired of leaving fragments of my identity everywhere I go. I haven’t had any problems yet, but I’m convinced it’s just a matter of time. Add to that the fact that I’ve never been a big fan of most of Yahoo!’s services and it’s easy to see why I’m hesitant to really jump into Flickr.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Flickr is a fascinating service, and I love sharing my pictures online. But I’ve already got a Picasa account along with a whole host of other services from Google. So I can’t bring myself to spend much time using Flickr since that would basically be a duplication of effort. I’ll even admit that I like Flickr’s navigation system and social aspects better than Picasa’s, but I’m already so tied into my Picasa account, that I don’t want to abandon it.

At this point, you’re probably wondering where I’m going with all this. Well it’s simple. I’ve got an OpenID account. And as far as I see it, if Yahoo! accepted OpenID, I’d be Flickring with the best of ‘em. So here’s my suggestion to Yahoo! (and any other “web 2.0″ online service as far as I’m concerned), start accepting OpenID!

Too many companies assume they have to own their members’ information. But wouldn’t having members more valuable? Open up. Let people participate in your communities without having to create an account. I think you’ll see that removing the barriers to entry will cause a whole new wave of participation.