Should Your Bubble App Use Social Logins?

Decide whether your app should use social logins, and if so, which ones are best

At the time of writing this, there are nearly 2.5 billion social media users in the world.

Here’s what that number looks like written out...

2,500,000,000.

A lot of zeros, isn’t it?

Those 2.5 billion people are using platforms like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Linkedin, and many more. So, the gut reaction for most no code app developers is to include a social media login for users to register or sign in with. -Click to Tweet

After all, there are dozens of ready-made plugins for different services like Facebook and Instagram. You should just go ahead and use them, right?

Well, not exactly…

Should you use a social login at all?

A mistake we see a lot of people make is simply assuming they should integrate a social login feature with their app. Since everyone else is doing it, and Bubble provides a way to do it without any extra work on your part...it seems like a no-brainer.

The thing is, not every Bubble app should have a social login feature, especially if that app handle users’ personal or sensitive information in any way.

Think about personal finance or banking apps — ones you connect your financial accounts to for things like expense tracking, income reports, or anything else “number” related.

Most users simply won’t want to use a social login for apps like that. I mean, would you?

It doesn’t even matter if there’s a literal 0% chance a users’ information could somehow be shared in a way they don’t want — in most cases like this, you simply don’t need a social login.

Even if your app has nothing to do with sensitive or personal user information, though, you don’t always need a social login option. It really comes down to whether such a login option will provide a specific benefit to you and your users.

Benefits of social logins

To give you an idea of what we mean, here are a handful of benefits both you and users might experience with the use of a Facebook login option:

  • You can use someone’s Facebook profile information to automatically populate their user information on your own app, which means less steps for a user to take
  • You can prevent typos and errors when users are submitting their email addresses or any other information the social login API will pull in
  • You can validate a users’ identity by requiring them to use a social login
  • You can gain insightful data about your users to give them a better experience within your app
  • Your app might not be able to perform core functions without a social login — like pulling photos from someone’s Facebook profile, for example

The benefits of using a social login don’t stop there, either — especially when you start looking at other social platforms outside of Facebook.

Take Linkedin, for instance, and think of all the online job platforms you’ve seen pop up recently (like People per Hour, Upwork, Freelancer, 99 Designs, Toptal, Guru, Proz, etc). Having users register for a freelancing platform using their Linkedin account could save tons of time on the user’s side, all while helping you — the app developer — verify their identity (and thus, save a lot of headache for those freelancers’ future clients and employers).

So you can see, in a lot of situations, having a social login option can directly benefit both users and developers. If you can come up with solid reasoning for your use of a social login, it can serve a key function within your app.

How to choose the right social login

If using a social login makes sense for your app, the next step is to decide which platform to integrate with; there’s more to this than most people think because it’s not just about the convenience factor.

1. Know the purpose it’ll serve

Let’s go back to the Linkedin example. If you’re using a social login to pull specific information about a user into your app, you might already know which platform to use. (If you’re developing an online freelancer platform, Linkedin could give you valuable and helpful information.)

Similarly, let’s say your Bubble app uses a person’s contact list for a specific feature. In that case, enabling registration via a platform like Outlook (where they already have contacts stored) could be vital.

2. Know where your users spend time

When choosing a social login, the easiest go-to is often Facebook since there are billions of active users every month.

Even so, there could be better options for your app.

Take a look at these platforms’ user demographics for people in the US:

Facebook:

  • 69% of women and 63% of men use Facebook
  • 88% of users are 18-29 years old
  • 79% are 30-49 years old
  • 51% are 50-64 years old
  • 36% are 65+
  • 76% of adults with annual incomes over $75k use Facebook

Instagram:

  • 32% of women and 23% of men use Facebook
  • 59% of users are 18-29 years old
  • 31% are 30-49 years old
  • 13% are 50-64 years old
  • 5% are 65+
  • 30% of adults with annual incomes over $75k use Instagram

Twitter:

  • 21% of women and 21% of men use Facebook
  • 36% of users are 18-29 years old
  • 22% are 30-49 years old
  • 18% are 50-64 years old
  • 6% are 65+
  • 30% of adults with annual incomes over $75k use Twitter

Linkedin:

  • 23% of women and 28% of men use Facebook
  • 34% of users are 18-29 years old
  • 31% are 30-49 years old
  • 21% are 50-64 years old
  • 11% are 65+
  • 45% of adults with annual incomes over $75k use Linkedin

Pinterest:

  • 36% of women and 15% of men use Facebook
  • 36% of users are 18-29 years old
  • 32% are 30-49 years old
  • 24% are 50-64 years old
  • 9% are 65+
  • 34% of adults with annual incomes over $75k use Pinterest

Based off that information, can you tell which platform(s) your target market gravitates toward? (If you don’t know your market enough to tell, start there.)

What social login options are available?

Of course, there are dozens of other options beyond the main social platforms.

Here’s a list to get you started:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Outlook
  • Amazon
  • Meetup
  • Blogger
  • Disqus
  • Dribbble
  • Github
  • Foursquare
  • Paypal
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Twitch.tv
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube
  • And more

Depending on the purpose of your app, some of those options might make perfect sense, while others would simply be out of place. (If your users have never heard of Github, for example, including that option would be confusing.)

How to add a social login feature to your app

Of course, that list just grazes the surface of platforms you can integrate with. The most sure-fire way to decide whether a platform will allow you to integrate a login feature is to check their API documentation, which can usually be found in a “developers” section of their site (try looking in the footer).

If you do choose to go this route, know that, like with any other API, social login APIs are often updated, so you’ll need to make sure you keep the connection updated on your end, too (otherwise, the feature can become buggy).

If you’re not confident using APIs to connect to a social platform, you can also browse Bubble’s plugin database for ready-made integrations.

Conclusion

Not every app needs a social login feature. To decide whether or not it’s practical for you to include one, consider:

  • The purpose of your app: Does it make sense for users to register via social media?
  • The benefit it’ll provide users: Will they gain anything from logging in via social?
  • The benefit for you: Will connecting to users’ social media profiles provide crucial information for your app’s core features?

If including a social login is right for your app, ask yourself these questions to decide which is best:

  • Does your app need user information specific to any one platform?
  • Which platform does your target market gravitate toward?

By making a decision based on logic, you can decide if a social registration or login is right for your app in the first place, and if so, which one makes the most sense to use.