Facebook is your new Internet.
Facebook isn’t just a social network anymore. It’s expanding to embrace other sites and applications we used to view as separate. What do I mean? Simply that Facebook is the new Myspace, but it’s also Twitter. And LiveJournal. And Flickr. It’s all of these rolled into one. And now, Facebook is becoming a bridge to every other site on the Web, (duplicating features found in a relatively new site called FriendFeed—see my sidebar widget). Eventually, Facebook could moot the Mac vs. Windows debate, because both operating systems will be little more than a conduit for Facebook. A means to an end. What the hell am I talking about? Here’s a chart to explain it.
Facebook is already… |
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| Update your status constantly, and see your friends’ status updates. | |
| Use sophisticated privacy controls to separate your friends into groups and control which friends (or groups of friends) can see what. Yes, you can go "friends only." But you can be a lot more precise, too. Block your work friends from seeing your photos, for example. And because Facebook can import RSS feeds, any blog can be your LiveJournal. | |
| Message people whether they’re inside or outside of Facebook. Message a group of contacts and you’ve effectively created a permanent messageboard accessible only by those recipients. And, like Gmail, Facebook now has integrated, Jabber-based chat. | |
| Share your photos with friends. Leave comments on photos. You can even "tag" your friends within photos (a feature Flickr doesn’t have). | |
| Yeah, you can upload videos to Facebook. You can also share and watch YouTube videos within Facebook. | |
| Import your activity from other sites, including Last.fm, Digg, Google Reader, Del.icio.us. Updates show up in your mini-feed, and show up on your friends’ news feed. They just expanded this option today. | |
| Have you seen the new Facebook design that’s rolling out in the next few weeks? It looks an awful lot like Netvibes or MyYahoo. Your new profile page will have tabs, and you’ll be able to customize each of the tabs and arrange your stuff to look exactly how you want it to look. Who needs a start page? | |
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…Your computer?
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Think that sounds crazy? Erick Schonfeld notes today how similar Facebook’s new layout is to an operating system like Mac or Windows. And Facebook was the first social network to enable users to "install applications." Does that sound like a Web site to you? |
Does Facebook match these other giants feature for feature? Hell, no. Most of these are a whole lot more functional and polished. But Facebook brings features together in a way that is compelling to normal, average folks. People who don’t care about niche sites like FriendFeed or Twitter or LiveJournal. People who don’t try every new Beta that comes along. And what if you do like one of those niche social networks, like Flixter or Goodreads? Well, chances are it hooks up pretty good to Facebook. That its genius. If you want to share your reading list or your movie reviews with your friends and you’re not a famous blogger, you can still reach your pals on Facebook, using just your inside voice.
Ultimately, talking amongst yourselves—your trusted friends—that was supposed to be the promise of social networking. But too many companies are building Web sites for a small group of technophiles and early adopters who care only about new bells and whistles and APIs. They’re solving problems that don’t matter to most people. Facebook has surveyed the Web and figured out why the most successful sites are successful. Now, they’re starting to pull those useful features under one roof. And it’s working. Because, somewhat circuitously, under that roof is where all the people are.
