The internet is getting more convenient, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch. A lot of people have dealt with the headache that is trying to remember which social login they’re using for every site they’re on. So, we’re going to try to dig into this problem and figure out what you can do to avoid it.

What are “social logins”?

If you’re much of a web surfer then you’ve almost certainly run into social logins. Social logins are a way for you to easily and quickly set up accounts on new sites, as well as give you a simple way to log in after the fact.

How do social logins work?

They’re a form of a broader set of technologies referred to as single sign-on (SSO). Single sign-on technologies work by using one given set of credentials for multiple different services. However, in the context of social logins specifically, it refers to the idea of setting up accounts on new websites and logging in to those websites afterward, using those same social credentials. The main site acts as a way of authenticating new users for the sites using the main site for social logins.

There are several upsides to using this method. As an end user, it gives you a much greater amount of ease in the sign-up process, because it means you don’t have to manually verify your account or have separate credentials for each website. You can use your already existent online identity in order to set up new accounts.

The problem of social logins

Of course, there is a bit of trouble with this. If you’re using a lot of different websites, it can become pretty difficult to remember which websites are using which social logins. This is made worse by the fact that not everybody is on the most common social platforms, like people who choose to abstain from Facebook, and the fact that not every site supports the less popular or ubiquitous social networks as social login options. Because of this, it may not always be clear which social login you’re using for which site, and you may end up having to do trial and error in order to figure out which one you did use. This can mean unneeded headaches.

So what we really want to figure out is how we can take full advantage of social logins and minimize a lot of the headaches that pop up. Ultimately, we’re wanting a simple way to manage our sign-ins for different sites. That’s what we’re going to be exploring now.

How to remember which social login you used?

There are a few different techniques that you can use in order to make sure that you’re able to remember the various social logins that you’re using. Let’s break a few of them down.

Keep a list

There’s always the old method of just keeping a pencil and paper list, or storing everything in a digital note. This is probably the easiest and most obvious solution, but it can be more trouble than it’s worth since you’ll have to manually update it. When your list is contingent on you remembering to keep it up to date, you can easily forget to add new sites to it.

Keep Your Logins Consistent

If you can, use the same site for social logins on every platform. If you find that you’ve used a different login than your “normal” one, try to migrate your account to one that is your normal one or if you can’t do that and it’s not too much of a hassle, try to set up a new account using your preferred platform instead. But setting up a new account isn’t always possible, so there’s a good chance you’ll have to contact support to have your account migrated.

Use social login every time it’s available

A common problem is that people don’t remember which sites they used social logins on and which sites they didn’t use it on. To take care of this problem, use social logins every chance that you get. This will mean that you’re able to uniformly login across sites and won’t have to ask which sites you used it for and which sites you didn’t.

Set up an account specifically for social logins

Many people are the type to be a little wary of things like social logins because of their propensity to be used for demographic information, data collection, and stuff of a similar nature. Even if you’re not one of those people, you still stand to benefit from this idea. You can set up an alternate account on a given platform specifically intended for logging in to social platforms. This will ensure that not only are you going to definitely use the right platform, but you are going to know exactly which account you logged in with. But the main downside of this is that you’ve now got an extra account, and because of this you may have to sign out and sign in to get access to other sites.

Save yourself some trouble: Use an extension

Of course, the simple fact is that it’s unfair to you that you have to put out more effort than is really necessary. Your online experience should be simple and seamless. There’s no good reason not to offload the labor you’re putting into trying to remember your various social logins. Luckily, there’s an extension that’s perfect for your needs. 

An alternative approach: Which login

Many popular websites like Quora and Medium employ a number of social logins to make the process of logging in easier for users. The big drawback of this is the fact that you can get them mixed up. There are password managers that can keep track of your more traditional username and password combinations, but nothing like this exists for social logins.

With the Which Login extension, you can keep track of which social logins correlate to which platforms. With a charming and easy to use interface, you can simplify your browsing experience and browse the web with ease.

Social logins themselves are supposed to make your web browsing easier than ever. For the most part, they do. But sometimes people have problems remembering which social logins go with which sites. In fact, sometimes it’s hard to remember which sites they even use social logins for. If these sound familiar, Which Login is the perfect extension for you.

Which Login is built to be compatible right out of the box with most sites you’ll run into. In fact, the developer even encourages people to send him a message if they discover that a certain site is not compatible with the extension. However, even when these problems do crop up, it has a manual entry function which allows you to insert your own sites and the social logins that they used. For the most part, though, it should be pretty much automatic.

Spare yourself some pain in your web browsing and make it easy to remember just which logins you’re using across the internet: grab the Which Login extension and make the web the fun experience it should be. If you’re a person who likes to prowl the net and search for new sites and platforms, you owe yourself the experience of browsing the net painlessly.