‘The Facebook’ *is* the Internet.
Back in the 70’s/80’s, where I come, nobody had a vacuum cleaner. It’s not that we were scruffy, it’s just nobody ever said ‘vacuum cleaner’, we all had a Hoover instead. Regardless of what make you owned, it was still called a Hoover.
Digitally, the same thing has happened, as we no longer hear people say ‘get on the internet and search’ for something, we just hear ‘Google it’.
I believe it won’t be too long before the entire Internet will not be referred to as the Internet, but just ‘The Facebook’, because the internet will entirely fold into Facebook just about everyone, everything, and every brand, every website or microsite and even every software application, will be inside Facebook. And as for the parts of that are not folded in? Well, they will still have a firm virtual grappling hook gripped into Facebook for safety.
Facebook have announced that as early as this month it will become a location based social experience, where people can ‘check-in’ like they can on Foursquare. This is because it is becoming more clear that people are prepared to disclose more and more about themselves, even their exact location, and this is a huge commercial property, and that is of course where brands need to be. And they will be there because there is nothing more valuable to brands than a source of real time crowd sourcing collective wisdom. Facebook, along with Twitter and other microblogs is becoming the most relevant, and valuable data available in the world.
The recent Open Graph API system has given every page on the internet the potential to have all of Facebook’s functionality built in, meaning that all activity we do on the internet could potentially be shared via Facebook. Spotify launched it’s new software version last week, allowing users to connect with Facebook and view all their friends play lists and listen to their music choices, and visa-versa.
This morning I signed up to Microsoft Docs Beta, which is giving me the whole Microsoft Office suite as an application within Facebook so I can now work within Facebook, and share my docs with my friends an colleges, via Facebook.
I am a fan of all things bright an new on the internet, but in my opinion, because of the ever advancing functionality it offers, Facebook is, again, the brightest and newest thing on the Internet.
Ron Conway, (who makes buckets loads of money cashing in on online trends) agrees with me. Well, let’s be realistic, I agree with him.