I am a big fan of Facebook and tend to tell whoever will listen that I think (unlike some other social networks) that it may have a lengthy shelf life. Honestly, the strictly-business network LinkedIn would be greatly improved if it mimicked some of Facebook’s features more closely such as the newsfeed, status updates and convenient mobile access. About 80% of college students today have profiles in Facebook — they will enter the workforce with a built-in network that many folks more seasoned and worldly than them would envy. Facebook has 24 million members and is growing quickly. Many younger people have stopped using email altogether, preferring the (so far) spam-free direct and multilayered messaging environment offered by social networks like MySpace and Facebook.
Facebook recently took a few more strides forward with their launch of numerous innovative applications that you can choose to adopt for your profile. Among my Facebook friends who include mostly professional colleagues, the most popular apps have been Causes and Video. I’ve heard raves about the iLike app and some concerns about some of the apps’ stability.
Fortune ran a great article on this recently with a quote from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Here’s a slice:
"We want to make Facebook into something of an operating system so
you can run full applications," Zuckerberg told me, saying it would be
analogous to the platform that Microsoft Windows provides for
developers. Outsiders can now develop Internet services on Facebook’s
infrastructure, he explains, that will have full access to all its
members. Just as it is when someone writes a program for Windows,
programmers won’t need any permission from Facebook or any special
business relationship with the company.This is likely to
result in an explosion of creativity. In addition to its basic features
of a profile, a friends list and tools to communicate, Facebook today
gives all members access to six mostly modest applications on the left
side of its home page – Photos, Notes, Groups, Events, Posted Items and
the classifieds service it launched last week called Marketplace. It
also launched a very cool video application Thursday. But also today 65
partner companies unveiled more than 85 additional applications that
members can install immediately.[...]
From here on it will be wide open. Anyone will have access to
Facebook’s so-called "markup language," which is intended to be usable
even by those with rudimentary programming skills. So kids in dorm
rooms will be able to create simple applications to coordinate
TV-watching or trips to the cafeteria with their friends. And some
creative amateur coders are likely to come up with amazing new things
to do inside Facebook. Companies, too, will find many ways that
Facebook applications can improve productivity and collaboration.The
company will impose no limitations on what kinds of applications others
can create, except that they be legal. Says Zuckerberg: "They can sell
sponsorships, they can have ads, they can sell things, they can link
off to another site – we are just agnostic." He promises that Facebook
will not give its own applications any special privileges or exclusive
access to its members.The company will continue to primarily
obtain its revenue from advertising, at least at first. It is betting
that the increased usage resulting from the platform strategy will
dramatically increase its ad inventory as well as help it grow
membership even faster. Revenues this year are already estimated by
outsiders to be around $150 million. (The company will not confirm the
figure.)
Facebook is the company to watch, IMHO in terms of the potential impact on our personal and professional communications going forward. If you aren’t already looking to understand the Facebook environment, it’s not too late to jump in and watch the future unfold. Watch out Google and Yahoo!
