Facebook's bid to rule the web as it goes social

[nighthawk]

Facebook set out its stall to unseat Google and be at the heart of the web experience as it becomes more social.

The world's largest social network unveiled a series of products at its developer conference F8 aimed at helping the company achieve that goal.

These tools will make it easier for users to take their friends with them as they browse the web.


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8590306.stm

I just found the above article and thought a few here may be interested in it. A lot of what they discuss sounds like it is already possible - most websites have a "share on facebook" button already, which works well on news and blog sites. The idea of visiting a store though and being able to see products your friends like sounds quite appealing though.

Will anyone here be implementing a "like" button on their site? Is anyone else a little concerned about sites like Facebook and Google constantly expanding their grip on the web?

[vangogh]

Interesting. Facebook is clearly looking to be the home page of the web if they can pull it off, which it seems like they can just about do. Facebook connect is already a popular login across sites.

It can be a bit scary though, to think how much information about us some companies are collecting, especially when those companies haven't exactly been the best when it comes to protecting our privacy.

The idea of being able to see products your friends like is certainly interesting. For the seller of that product it's a nice and easy recommendation. I'd have no problem letting my friends see what products I like. However most of the people who follow me on Facebook aren't exactly friends. More acquaintances than friends. It's a little creepy to me to think they could all see products I like and if anything it would make it less likely I'd ever click the like button.

With my own site I'm not so inclined to add a like button. I currently have a few social media buttons below each of my posts, but I'll probably remove them the next time I redesign the site. While I certainly appreciate when people recommend something I wrote on any social network, I'm not sure plastering buttons everywhere on your site is a good idea.


Is anyone else a little concerned about sites like Facebook and Google constantly expanding their grip on the web?

I am. I've turned off everything I can through Google. No personalization or search history. Buzz was shut off moments after Google signed me up for it with asking me and I tend not to be logged into anything Google while surfing. In fact I've started using other search engines much more recently and using Google most as a fallback, because I'd prefer not to give them every bit of data about my life online.

Same with Facebook. The more these companies try to force me into giving them my personal information the less I'm using their sites.

I read an article a day or two ago (I'll have to find it again) about how all social networks seem not to realize that not everyone we "friend" on their site is really a friend and that we need to be able to place our "friends" into different groups with more control over what each group can and can't see.

[billbenson]

I cut over to bing for my main search engine. Not so much because of the privacy issue, but because of results. I was looking for linux drivers for suse 11.2. It only gave me authority sites results or age'd results, meaning results from 2006. Same for reviews. If you want a review of the top TV's to buy and what specs are important, you don't want several year old articles. This isn't a new problem with G, but these types of results are useless.

[mcfarldr1]

Facebook's new "Like" is going to cause problems and get old within a year. That's just my opinion.

[Dan Furman]

facebook really needs a "I don't want to see anyone's facebook games and quizzes and other activities." I know you can block each one, but a new one pops up every day.

[Spider]

I flat don't trust Google, but Bing and Yahoo are no different, I believe - they all record your searches and use that information to pester you or help others pester you. And I don't doubt that Facebook does the same.

I use Ixquick Search Engine (http://ixquick.com) and completely avoid the other search engines because Ixquick doesn't record your IP address, or so they say.

On the other hand, I make it a point not to share anything private on the web. All the so-called Privacy controls are - IMHO - not to be trusted, and the only way to keep anything private is not post it on the web. If you enter it through the keyboard of your computer while conneted to the internet, expect it to be available to others in some form or another.

[KristineS]

On the other hand, I make it a point not to share anything private on the web. All the so-called Privacy controls are - IMHO - not to be trusted, and the only way to keep anything private is not post it on the web. If you enter it through the keyboard of your computer while conneted to the internet, expect it to be available to others in some form or another.

This is so true and something I try to impress on the our customers all the time. A lot of them are small business owners, and they don't seem to understand that what you say on the web can be found, no matter how well hidden you think it is, or how unlikely you believe it will be that people will see it. Stuff posted on the Internet never goes away either, so the dumb thing you write today could have an impact on the job interview you have five years down the road.

As you say, Frederick, the only way to make sure something stays private is not to put it on the web. I made my peace a long time ago (hello, 4 blogs!) with the fact that what I put online is available to anyone at anytime. For that reason there are some things I don't discuss. The only stuff that goes on the web is stuff that I'm o.k. with people reading and knowing.

[AmyAllen]

If you enter it through the keyboard of your computer while conneted to the internet, expect it to be available to others in some form or another.

I think it's even beyond that. I was on Skype the other day and said verbally to my mom that we should try a spinach filo dough recipe and 1 minute later got a "Spinach Filo Dough Recipe" from Skype in my Gmail Inbox. It was way to Big Brother/ 1984 for me - I took Skype off my computer the next day.

[KristineS]

I think it's even beyond that. I was on Skype the other day and said verbally to my mom that we should try a spinach filo dough recipe and 1 minute later got a "Spinach Filo Dough Recipe" from Skype in my Gmail Inbox. It was way to Big Brother/ 1984 for me - I took Skype off my computer the next day.

Ooh, that is a little creepy.

[vangogh]

That is a little scary. A few months back I did a search, which was an unusual one for me. I had searched something with Vanity Fair in the query. It's not a magazine I every read or want to read and I can't remembers what I was specifically looking for. Within a half hour or so Amazon had sent me an email with an offer to get a subscription to Vanity Fair. The address Amazon sent the email to was the same address I was logged into Google at the time.

It could have all been coincidence. I tried to repeat what happened with other similar searches, but never could get the same results. It was scary to think Google was sharing my info with Amazon who was using it it to send me offers.

Like it or not though, that's where things are heading. If done well it can actually be a good thing, but it's still very creepy and I don't like the implications about the loss of privacy we're facing.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'm not surprised by any of this. From the very beginning the internet was poised to be the the marketing and advertising equivalent of the second coming of a savior. Back when TV was beginning to take shape, the public was thrilled about the technology and having "free" entertainment in the home...marketers were chomping at the bit because they could now advertise to people in their living rooms, and ever since they have spent billions trying to fine tune the metrics...and now they have all but perfected it.

[vangogh]

Yeah, but it can still get creepy at times. I think most people don't care for the idea of having everything we do watched. Most of us still expect a right to some level of privacy. The marketer in me wants to be able to collect as much information as I can, but the consumer in me wants to be able to surf and shop and do most other things without having to keep looking over my shoulder to see who's following.

[greenoak]

thats happening to me a bit too...kind of custom commercials just for me....im like spider and figure anything i do on the internet is public...its probably not just google....or wont be soon...

[vangogh]

It's definitely not just Google. And in some respects having ads personally targeted and delivered to us isn't a bad thing. I'd rather see ads for products I might be interested in that ads for products I'm not interested in. There's a line somewhere though that I don't want companies to cross when it comes to how much they know about me and watch me for the purpose of delivering ads.

As far as everything on the internet being public I don't think it's so clear cut. If you post something somewhere in a public forum like this, then sure it's public. How about the email address you used to sign up? Is that public too? Does that mean you'd all be ok if I sold your email addresses to anyone who wants them? I'm guessing you wouldn't like that. You put it on the internet though, so does that mean it's now public?

How about when you send an email to a friend? That travels over the internet so does it mean it's ok for anyone who can capture what's in the email post the contents somewhere? Or what about when you make a purchase. Your credit card information is on the internet so does that make the information public? Again I'm pretty sure we'd agree that information isn't public.

I don't think the internet automatically equals public. There are public and private spaces online the same way there are public and private spaces offline. We all expect if we drop a letter in an envelope and take it to the post office, that it will arrive at its destination unopened and unread. Sure there's a possibility someone will open and read the letter, but I think we expect it's private communication. We trust the post office to be responsible. Why is that any different than when you send an email to someone? Shouldn't all those that deliver the email be held to the same level of responsibility? Shouldn't we have reasonable expectations that the email will arrive unopened and unread?

If you sign up for an account at Facebook shouldn't you be able to expect they won't share your email address without your permission? If you set things so what you do on the site is private and meant to be visible only to a few friends, shouldn't you be able to expect only those friends see what you do?

I'm not suggesting that everything you do online should be private. Things offline we may not realize are also shared. If you have a discount card with your supermarket they're tracking all your food purchases for example. However I don't think the argument that if it's on the internet it's automatically public makes any sense.

[Spider]

Here's what I don't like about this personalizing concept. If one does not search much, or otherwise don't expose themselves much, the personalizing must be totally erroneous. I don't use Google to search for anything I want. The only times I use Google is to see if I can tell what other people are searching for. So the 'picture' that Google has of me is totally distorted and so any personalizing they do for (supposedly) my benefit, is way off base. Making the results worse, not better.

[billbenson]

And would you be terribly surprised if the FBI or other govt ententes are getting info from google?

[Spider]

I hope they are selling it. Because, as I have said before, I don't trust Google one little bit and use them as little as I possobly can, but I have invested in their stock!

[SiteSciences]

I don't feel like quoting the previous posts for the following paragraphs, but this should still make some sense:

Facebook isn't about networking; it's just a place where people brag about their unexciting lives. And hearing Facebook say they want to replace Google reminds me of Coldplay announcing they want to be the next Beatles. Ain't gonna happen - and it makes them sound completely out of touch with reality.

From a marketer's perspective, e-mail is still used for communication more often than social networking sites [source: eMarketer] and still provides much, much higher ROI than social marketing. It's only redeeming quality is building existing customer relationships, but there are plenty of other ways to do that as well... And if the advertisers aren't on board, Facebook doesn't grow.

Google's new Instant Search is a stellar (and subtle) attack on sites like Yelp and Facebook Local by giving instant results while better detecting and serving local content. People will be able to find the information they're looking for much more quickly, eliminating the need for middlemen.

Also, privacy is dead; get used to it. The irony, of course, is that while Google is a strong advocate of net-neutrality, they are the only ones capable of single-handedly ending it.

Fun times!

[vangogh]

Facebook isn't about networking; it's just a place where people brag about their unexciting lives.

That depends on the person using Facebook. Not everyone is just bragging about their lives and even if they were and you followed them then that's still a form of networking.


Google's new Instant Search is a stellar (and subtle) attack on sites like Yelp and Facebook Local by giving instant results while better detecting and serving local content. People will be able to find the information they're looking for much more quickly, eliminating the need for middlemen.

Funny. I found Google Instant slowing down my search so I turned it off.


Also, privacy is dead; get used to it.

Umm…no. Privacy only dies if everyone accepts it no longer exists.

[jamesray50]

I have a Facebook and LinkedIn link on my website. I'm hoping it will attract clients. And I want to know how many people like my site.