Is the new Facebook a boon or a threat?
The Facebook overhaul announced at F8 yesterday is easily the most significant social-media development of 2010 — and it’ll be a tough act to follow for anyone to follow this year.
Like all great shifts, it’s impossible to say what these changes will mean. Are we looking at a shiny new dawn of the social Web? Or is this the biggest invasion of privacy this side of a George Orwell novel? A boon for marketers everywhere? A naked grab for power?
Talking informally with friends yesterday about the changes, I was struck by how divided many people were. Some people were salivating about how the changes would enhance their businesses — and then they’d turn right around and fret about what would happen to all their personal data. I found myself feeling the same way — profoundly torn between the promises and the perils of that much data. The only thing I can be sure of right now is that I’m dying to learn how these changes will unfold each day as I prepare SmartBrief on Social Media. The biggest news of the year may already be out — but the story is just beginning.
What about you? Are you more excited or concerned by these announcements? How will you respond to these changes? Personally? Professionally? What will we need to relearn to survive in “a Web where the default is social”?
Image credit, Gunnar Pippel, via Shutterstock
Related posts:
Tags: data, f8, Facebook, privacy
Categories: Editor's Take
Permalink
Posted by robbirgfeld on April 22nd, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I'd have to say cautiously optimistic for now. The big question, I think, is how the development community will react to this. As a developer friend told me, "developers hate having just one option," and to expect a backlash. On the flip side– users love simplicity and integration. So how much integration is too much? If nearly every interaction we have online has the potential for broadcast (unless we're minding and adjusting all of our settings)– we should prepare ourselves for some awesome data, but some scary gaffes.
Posted by uberVU - social comments on April 22nd, 2010 at 8:14 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ChristinaLJohns: RT @sbosm: Is the new Facebook a boon or a threat? http://ow.ly/1BKdA...
Posted by Dave Culbertson on April 22nd, 2010 at 6:18 pm
This is a threat to businesses of all kinds passing too much power to Facebook, allowing it to serve as the central hub of the entire Internet. It's like AOL at its peak on steroids. I've blogged about this a few weeks ago.
http://lightbulbinteractive.blogspot.com/2009/12/...
Posted by @znmeb on April 22nd, 2010 at 6:30 pm
The new Facebook is a boon to some and a threat to others. Those to whom it is a boon will be shouting to the rooftops about how wonderful it is, and those who are threatened by it will do what they can to defend themselves. I'm not a heavy Facebook user, and I've decided to delete my account. It simply has no way of returning anything to me for the time I have invested in it,
My recent post Chirp – A Developer’s Perspective – Part 2
Posted by mfan on April 22nd, 2010 at 11:39 am
I would argue that Facebook is making a play for the major publishers and the mainstream user rather than the developers. The question will be, with Facebook’s broad reach, can it usurp incumbents like digg and stumbleupon and dominate social sharing?
Will Social sharing/bookmarking finally go mainstream? This could be epic.
Posted by @cbreecopy on April 22nd, 2010 at 6:44 pm
I think the more businesses know about you, the better they can serve you. Really personal information shouldn't be published on social media anyway, but that's a personal decision. I welcome the social world — I love the transparency of businesses, the ability to instantly talk to other customers and read reviews and as a marketer, I love the ability to connect with clients on a personal level. Ultimately, I think it's in the best interest of both the business and the consumer (unless you don't have a sound business — check out Bank of America's FB page for an example.)
Posted by Heather on April 23rd, 2010 at 4:06 am
I'm more annoyed at the moment about Facebook's philosophy of making people opt-out of changes to their privacy settings rather than asking us to opt-in. It's like the social media version of email spam. That said, these new features could be interesting and valuable, but it's too soon to tell. We have to see how Facebook users feel about this first.
Posted by Chris on April 23rd, 2010 at 9:03 am
It's a bloody shambles. People are getting updates from pages they never became a fan of, just because the subject gets mentioned, intentionally or otherwise, in their profile. I call it SPAM.
Posted by Joe Cibula on April 23rd, 2010 at 2:58 pm
The "like" idea doesn't work, period.
Posted by Facebook is a Little Shop of Horrors on April 25th, 2010 at 7:09 am
[...] Is the new Facebook a boon or a threat? (smartblogs.com) [...]