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The Impact of Facebook's Platform

readwriteweb.com — It has been just under 2 months since Facebook launched their platform initiative, but this self-opening move has already had an extremely positive impact on the company. The changes are not limited to the company itself, however.

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  • TrainingName, on 10/11/2007, -4/+15I lost my life to Facebook.
    Talk about positive impact.
    • cosmicdreams, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Congratulations!! You win Digg's most emo award
  • shep72685, on 10/11/2007, -5/+11I am worried people will go crazy with it and eventually cause Facebook's instability somehow. Plus, having to install various apps I don't want to install just to see some weird fact about a friend is a bit annoying.
    • TrainingName, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Take one day out of your oh-so-busy life to install every possible Application.
      Then do it again a week later.
    • sgtbutterscotch, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6then don't install it
  • jacksmax, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3yeah the facebook development platform is pretty amazing... the company will definitely be sold for more than 2 billion dollars. too bad yahoo didn't take that offer earlier
  • Farik, on 10/11/2007, -1/+29I like the idea of having the API open, but I can't stand getting invites and having to look at other profiles that are plastered with a tonne of lame apps.
    • MicroBerto, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11I agree. Great idea, but I hate it. The signal-to-noise ratio is at an all-time low with Facebook now. I have a feeling that it's going to get as annoying as MySpace. I find myself logging in less often since these applications have been cluttering it up.
    • slickhare, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3I agree as well, all the invites are getting really annoying. I could understand if it was an interesting app, but pointless ones like "Horoscopes".
  • digboy99, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9When the Facebook platform was initially released, it seemed like there was suddenly a new game in town. However, upon reflection, it became obvious to me that its a mirage for everybody except Facebook itself. Many people began to see Facebook as sort of a Windows for the web, where massive numbers of developers would create applications that run on the platform. As part of this, Facebook would gain considerable power. The problem is that the value proposition that Facebook provides is limited to applications that can leverage the social nature of the environment. This means that by its very nature, Facebook in its current form, is limiting.

    Another problem that can be observed today is that of user acceptance. To gain a foothold in the platform, an application has to gain enough momentum to achieve a sort of escape velocity from obscurity. However, day by day, the Facebook universe is being polluted with more and more applications, that by their very nature, require adoption of others to be useful. Its a chicken and egg problem.

    The last problem for developers is that there are no guarantees that Facebook won't simply copy the applications that become useful. Consider the application developer's dilemma. Are they satisfied with being permanently reliant on Facebook, or do they try to capture the user outside of the Facebook universe after the inital adoption period? Facebook will want to keep these users, and so will be motivated in the long term to be the provider of the very most popular applications. A few may have to be purchased by Facebook in the long run, but almost all others risk getting squished.

    And ultimately, as Facebook grows, it is bound to change, and this will ultimately be its downfall. Already many core Facebook users are disgruntled with the influx of useless, gimmicky applications. With the quest for further growth, this continuing evolution toward the mainstream may hurt its loyal base, and provide an opportunity for an upstart. Remember, Facebook is not the end-all of social networks. Others can capture market share as easily as Facebook did while competing against Myspace.
    • mav451, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Meh, the various apps and multitude of ads is getting to be pretty disgusting. Facebook used to be clean. Now it's just getting bloated.
  • magness, on 10/11/2007, -0/+22Zuckerberg sounds like a wreck there... You can hear his voice shaking.

    I bet as a college freshman 6 years ago, he never dreamed he'd be giving intro keynotes for his website project, but still, lets get the kid back into Public Speaking 201.
    • evensong, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Yeah. But having taken Public Speaking 2100, its a huge transition from doing your puny speech in front of 30 peers to doing a taped keynote in front of thousands of developers.
      Public speaking only comes with practice.
    • jorgepblank, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Yeah that guy's always tripping in speeches, he did the exact same thing in a video posted her a while ago.
    • Stormwave0, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Agreed. Ironically, the article compares him to a younger version of Steve Jobs. I watched both videos and Jobs 20 years ago was clearly better than Zuckerberg now.
    • digboy99, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0How would you sound if you knew that one stupid move by an inexperienced kid could cause a $1B+ hit in market value? This is pretty serious stuff going on. Hopefully for him, he doesn't grasp the gravity of his tenuous position.
  • sicapitan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9I hope they don't sell it, to be honest. Be a bit original instead of selling out to the big guys all the time. I also think they should stick to what they know and of course grow into areas which follow those trends, instead of having loads of money and going 'oh now what do we do -- lets start a file sharing app'.
    • esotericguy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1u dare make a joke of kevin!?!?
      =]
  • Haphazardness, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8I still refuse to add any of those damn applications.
    • sgtbutterscotch, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1you non-conformist
    • Sixcolors, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I like the movie rating app and the zombie biting one. Other than that I don't know what's out there. I still visit MySpace way more then Facebook.
  • NikoKun, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2screw facebook... when the ***** is streamy coming out???
  • trappleton, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4Comparing Zuckerberg to Jobs is like comparing Steve Ballmer to MLK Jr.
    • bxyldy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1Comparing Jobs to MLK Jr. is like comparing Gates to MLK Jr.
    • trappleton, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Actually I meant that one is talking about dreams while the other is just shouting "DEVELOPERS"
  • gcnaddict, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2The facebook development platform kicks ass... and it's based heavily on Microsoft's technologies.

    I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft picks them up.
    • digboy99, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0From what I heard, some Microsoft exec has advised Zuckerberg on strategy.
    • durandal2005, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3"Microsoft's technologies"? Like what, exactly? I was under the impression that Facebook is Linux from the ground up, and is written in open languages like PHP, Java, C/C++, etc.
  • lexlaw, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8Buried for comparing this guy to Jobs
  • slickhare, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11Some people's profiles are beginning to look like glorified Myspace pages with all the random junk on them... Not only can people add random junk to their page, but now they can tell me about it by "inviting" me to the same app every other day. I like the idea, but the "invite" system needs to go.
    • ricree, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2As long as they don't allow people to start adding in sound or to start messing with the page layout, I can deal with it. But it definitely is starting to look way too much like myspace.
  • aydoubleyou, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Facebook... hmm.
    Although I agree it's better than MySpace..... the apps they keep bragging about just dont seem so special to me. Enlighten me on what really makes Facebook such a big deal someone. Please.
  • Tweekster, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3Too bad it sucks for the users.
    facebook platform is a ***** joke
  • LANjackal, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4People who don't "get" why Facebook is huge... you're all already lost causes. No sense attempting to explain, unless you eventually see it for yourself.

    Oh btw, this article wouldn't have been a readwriteweb one unless it included a Steve Jobs/Apple tribute in some shape or form *rolls eyes*
  • UCFartstudntJON, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1Gae
  • Sixcolors, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4While Facebook doesn't seem to be inundated with obnoxious teenagers and horribly customized and unreadable profiles (because everyone gets the same color scheme), it's still just as cluttered as MySpace if not a little more so. There's so much info plastered all over your profile page that it's a tad overwhelming. Adding a ton of apps doesn't help.

    MySpace is just an ugly site to begin with, but neither seems to have nailed down a clean and intuitive interface yet.
  • jbond, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Facebook is a Black Hole. It has Huge Gravity. It sucks all your data into it. Nothing escapes.
  • smacksaw, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2I have so many apps it's sad. And they're not for anyone else but me, so maybe it is like an OS.
  • chaos7, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4facebook is boring stop talking about it. it's for people that like to act like they're "too cool" for myspace.
  • BaNZ, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Me login to facebook.

    Sees:
    2 friend requests
    1 zombies invitation
    4 werewolf invitations
    1 happy hour request
    1 new notification

    Ignore all the strange request and check my wall and close the window. It's just getting too confusing with all the apps.
  • effedup, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3i agree. the amount of apps is rediculous and 99% of them are lame.
  • superpixel, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Facebook is *****, and here's why: they screwed their purpose completely. It isn't about apps. It isn't about profiles. It's about joining networks-- primarily school networks. And guess what? If you're an alumni who no longer (or never had) the edu address? You're screwed. Facebook doesn't want you, you over-30 dumbass dinosaur. Oh sure, we understand, you can come and dick around with our clunky, overburdened interface. Just don't actually try to use the thing as it was intended-- hell no! You have to be a perky teenager to join. So ***** old folks, Facebook isn't interested in you.

    When you ***** down the back of possible customers, you know WHY you're not getting MySpace-type offers. I bet good money some big-shot tried this, couldn't join their alma mater, and said "what is wrong with these idiots?"

    So Facebook, add some apps, open the API, hell, send us free hookers from outer space. You can polish a turd all day, but it's still a turd. Until you dust off that mission statement and wake up out of the "web 2.0" drug haze and remember WHY YOU STARTED DOING THIS, you will get only derision from me. (Not that I matter, for sure)
    • kdoig, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0yeah i hear web 2.0 every day and it makes me want to throw up
  • aserer511, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1I personally like FB platform and found some neat apps. The coolest part about apps- no BMW driving, 40 year old developed them, a college junior comp sci major did. THAT'S cool.
  • stephdau, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1A bit late for this thread, but looking for Digg community comment on http://digg.com/security/First_Facebook_worm_ish_behaviour
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