With Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement at F8 that Facebook want to further connect together our external recommendations with our peers, what could this mean for the future of the web?
We have to take Facebook seriously when the company announces a big step such as this one. The sheer number of daily users on Facebook means that whatever changes or movements forward they want to make will have a very large audience and therefore impact.
Zuckerberg wants to let the 400 million users move around the web and 'like' content of interest that is then published on their profile and in their social space. What this is doing is changing the way we actively search and move between pieces of content. If a friend of mine 'likes' certain content, I will see this on Facebook but also when I browse the content itself. By both of us actively liking, we have made a connection and the information has been shared socially. There are also the implications of (if signed in to Facebook and browsing the web) being able to connect with people outside of your social circle who have actively indicated that they like the content as well.
A further announcement to developers was the idea that once you have hit the 'like' button on sites that contain this feature, this is then remembered and in the future, content on certain sites can be tailored to reflect what we have 'liked' in the past. I think this is a real advancement in today's web. The ability to serve content that is bespoke to the user could help to make the information on the web feel much more personal, efficient and provide the user with a greater experience.
The challenge will be whether or not Zuckerberg and his team can roll out the concept free from privacy concerns. This social web, bespoke to the user and centered around peer recommendations will certainly have Google looking over their shoulders as Facebook attempts to push out its offering.
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