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4

Facebook at the Intersection of Social, Business Lives

Posted by Ann All Jul 23, 2007 4:21:00 PM

Despite the Internet's famously short attention span, Google has been the most buzz-worthy tech company for nearly a decade. Computerworld recently named the search giant the top e-commerce development of the past 10 years.

 

Yet, now Google appears to be in danger of losing that status to Facebook.

 

Once merely an also-ran to MySpace, Facebook is now being touted as "a do-everything site with the potential to devour the whole Internet," according to a Slate article. The article speculates that Facebook wants to become "an all-encompassing portal" similar to MyYahoo or iGoogle.

 

While that prediction sounded radical enough when first published in late June, it now seems almost laughably small-potatoes in light of the current speculation following Facebook's acquisition of Parakey, a Web-based operating system created by two co-founders of Firefox.

 

As blogger Simeon Simeonov points out, the Parakey buy positions Facebook to become a new breed of operating system that allows content to flow freely between the desktop and the Web. In one swoop, Facebook appears to have advanced beyond what Google has been doing with Google Apps and Google Gears.

 

Facebook trumps Google, which has been buying up apps, by opening up its platform to third-party developers and offering to let them make money by advertising. Translation: You'll see the "next big thing" on Facebook before Google.

 

What, if anything, does all of this mean for the enterprise?

 

IT Business Edge blogger Loraine Lawson isn't sure. Facebook will hold great appeal for the increasing numbers of folks who want to merge their business and social lives "in ways that are not intrusive, that feel intuitive and which are both highly productive and deeply satisfying," says ZDNet's Dan Farber. Translation: That's everyone under 30, some of whom will work for you soon -- or eat your lunch at their own startup.

Add a comment Leave a comment on this blog post.
Aug 1, 2007 4:05 PM Guest Amanda  says:

Facebook is a thin layer of social networking that has no depth. Its social o/s terminology has been a marketing hype intended to make some waves, but has no real impact. Even Google app has no real depth. Parakey is a no-good operating system to start with.

 

All these are shallow attempts to grab the attention away from Microsoft that rules the world.

Aug 2, 2007 4:30 AM Guest Steve Dawson  says:

As always this is coming down to personal choice. If you feel comfortable with the privacy options around Facebook then most of us will be happy to mix work with our social networks.  Currently I seem to have accounts everywhere and it would be good to pull them all together, along with my work and social contacts. Ultimately we will have our own website,which anyone can search on, pulled together with interoperable Web service applications.

Aug 2, 2007 10:05 AM Guest Michael  says:

"Facebook trumps Google, which has been buying up apps, by opening up its platform to third-party developers and offering to let them make money by advertising."

 

Umm...

 

Actually, letting people make money by advertising is Google's core business model. And they opened up their platform to third-party developers years before FaceBook did. Ever hear of Google Maps, to cite just one example?

 

As for Parakey, it's an interesting move, but there's no evidence yet that FaceBook has the skills to pull off a technically and commercially viable WebOS--a feat that others have tried and failed to do.

 

I like FaceBook too, but given that the platform's main capability is helping people keep in touch with each other, I'd have to say that this breathless speculation is a bit more than is warranted.

Mar 11, 2008 9:16 AM Guest social security  says:

We can provide a full range of social networking applications strategy, design, development and marketing for your business. Our service offerings will allow you to maximize and leverage the social networking social graph of 200+ Million users.

Are you in need of a custom Facebook application or an OpenSocial application for social network? We are happy to build even the most robust applications to help promote your company in the realm of social media across any social network.

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