Facebook’s New Features: a quick review

Written by: Claire Goyat September 23, 2011  

According to PC World, Facebook’s huge changes respond to a more competing social networks market: Twitter and Google + are introducing other ways to manage and interact with friends, colleagues, people…

Before the F8 conference, Facebook already introduced the smart list feature: Facebook automatically sorts lists for your close friends, family members, co-workers and people around you. On Google+, the circle’s selection is manual. The other news is that you can manage your privacy with content going public (Twitter), or just for friends or even private (Google +).

What Facebook has announced is not just new features but a new strategy and vision to enter the next stage of social media networks.

“We think it’s an important next step to help tell the story of your life,” said Mark Zuckerberg

More than a website where people spend a lot of time, Facebook wants to be the platform of your online (and increasingly offline) life.

In short: new features are:

• A timeline, your life’s biography
• The end of the like button. You read, You cook, You run …
• New apps and partnerships to share music (Spotify), videos (Netflix and Hulu), news,… Facebook is not becoming a purveyor of media products as Apple or Amazon. Just the place where news and entertainment are found.

Still in questions

• How users will absorb and react to the new features remains to be seen. It might take some time.
• What was simple at the beginning requires now more and more skills to manage privacy, content sharing and creation… I am not sure senior users or people who just want to stay in touch with a small group of friends will be interested.
• How to avoid duplicate content for people having multiple accounts (Twitter, Google+, linkedIn,…)
• Facebook’s ambition to be omnipresent in the Web experience, makes me think of Microsoft and AOL.
• Is web serendipity still relevant only filtering your friends activity?

Futher Links

PC World
Mashable : f8 conference Keynotes – To get started
The New York Times article
The Next Web