Google Is Going After One Of Facebook's Core Assets

Google introduced a new sign-in button for Google+ today that developers can add to their website or mobile app.

If you've activated your Google+ account, this means you'll be able to log in to various sites and apps using the same credentials you use to access Gmail, YouTube, and other Google services.

The Google+ sign-in button is very similar to Facebook Connect, the button you've probably seen on several sites that lets you to log in with your Facebook account. Most major sites already use Facebook Connect, which became very apparent when a glitch at Facebook temporarily took them all down a few weeks ago.

Google also added more sharing options, so you can control what content from apps and websites appear on your Google+ page. If you've ever connected an app to Facebook, you know it can be annoying when you share a bit of content on your News Feed that you never really wanted there.

The Google+ sign-in button tries to fix that by letting you select what groups you want to share with.

But what's most important is there's now the potential to log into any site or app using your Google account information. Even if you don't use Google+, it could be very useful to use the same login you use for Gmail and other Google services to log in anywhere else.

The Google+ sign-in button is also a big attack at Facebook's core asset: becoming your core identity on all sites, not just one social network. A lot of people already have Google accounts, so there's plenty of incentive for developers to add the Google+ sign-in button to their app or website.

Here's a quick video overview of Google's new sign-in button: