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Facebook Wants to be the Next World Wide Web
04.22.2010Posted by: Ben
The internet is many things. One of those things is the "web," which has begun to blur around the edges into new things, the most significant of which is Facebook, a semi-private network accessed just like websites. However, Facebook is becoming something of an alternate universe of the web.Facebook is everywhere. In the last year, if you use the internet, you can't have avoided Facebook talk. It's as though having a Facebook account was as common as email, but people who have yet to join roll their eyes and think "I don't have time to be facebooking." Facebook is simply enormous and can't be ignored, from personal social impact to business advertising and commerce. It's almost like another web, but now more than ever with a new change to "pages."
Here's what's happening:
1. See how Google works, basically. You search Google. A list of things appears, hopefully in order of "most relevant" or "most authoritative" to least.
2. See how Wikipedia works, basically. You search Wikipedia and find single "pages" of content that are about that search word or phrase. Often, Google will show Wikipedia entries near the top of the list. Try searching for Bristol, TN on Google and you will see the official city page at number 1 and the Wikipedia page at number2.
3. See how Facebook search works now, basically. Log in to facebook and try searching for an activity or interest. Try clicking on the "See More Results for..." link at the bottom of the suggestions box that pops up. Now this is where things get confusing. Facebook has created pages (that include Wikipedia content and posts from people with those interests among other things) that are public. Facebook calls them "community pages." Here are a few examples: (NONE OF THESE ARE CONTROLLED BY ANYONE BUT FACEBOOK!)
The WJHL Page
The Bristol, Tennessee Page
Alpha Natural Resources
ETSU
Get the point?
One example I just found was the "South Holston Lake, A Great Place To Be" page which was created by someone local and has 900 "likes" (formerly fans or followers) and the "South Holston Lake" community page, which reflects that 28 people have listed in their profiles that they "like" South Holston Lake or list it as an activity. When you search for South Holston Lake and you don't currently "like" the South Holston Lake, A Great Place To Be page, what do you think is listed first?
The Facebook community page.
Fail.
And this is happening now any time anyone is searching facebook for pages they want to follow... uh, I mean like... sigh.
With "pages" Facebook reached outside of itself and began to show up in search results. You didn't have to be logged in to Facebook to see results for businesses, organization, etc. What was a fairly simple-to-understand concept of "my friends" has rapidly evolved into something much more complex and advanced.
This week, huge changes have been announced which will have far-reaching consequences to users. It's something of a fad to complain about changes on Facebook — most recently the site's changing "Become a Fan" to "Like" — but right now, there is something of a paradigm shift that appears to be a possible kind of assault on the rest of the web, bringing information to us based on interests as opposed to searching the web for our interests, or at least joining these two processes into one thing.
You know those "share" links you see everywhere? Digg this, tweet that, post it to facebook, etc... Well, Facebook wants to simplify that process so that you are just simply clicking "Like" all over the web. Heck, why not just assume you "like" whatever it is you are doing on the web? Facebook will collect that data and begin to compile a much broader, vaster system of knowledge about your personal interests.
And sell it to advertisers.
The targeting power of Facebook advertising is already startling. Very different from Search ads, in that you can target someone's passive interests as opposed to their active searching interests. Pages are being integrated into your interests, so there is a direct flow from pages you are fans of (oh yeah, that you "like") and your "like" behavior in the world wild web.
Everyone who has a Facebook account or a business should pay attention right now — because 2010 is their year and things are moving fast. Maybe off a cliff.
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