Patent ID: 8136145

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a request for an authentication code, the request received by a social networking system from a web browser of a user of the social networking system; generating the requested authentication code by the social networking system; sending the generated authentication code from the social networking system to the web browser of the requesting user of the social networking system, wherein the authentication code is providable to a network device of the user without a web browser; receiving the generated authentication code by the social networking system from a third party application, wherein the third party application obtained the authentication code from the network device of the user without a web browser; and allowing the third party application to communicate with the social networking system conditional upon receiving the authentication code, by providing information about the user from the social networking system to the third party application, wherein the third party application is configured to provide application content to the network device of the user based on the information about the user received from the social networking system.