Facebook Takeoff!

Facebook has been in the news a lot lately, opening up their own platform and apparently launching their own video campaign as well. Things might develop pretty quickly as integration with popular services is already taking off. Facebook video could benefit from the kind of video/author association that Youtube doesn´t offer. It is a site that has been rapidly moving up the ladder since lifting the restriction on college students (a pretty logical move) and one that now competes with the big dog, MySpace.

A Couple thoughts on Facebook:

• This is the only site that I´ve seen bridge the Spanish/English gap. Having lived in South America and in the States, I witnessed the growth of hi5 down South, and MySpace up North, and had to juggle both accounts to maintain friends. Finally, facebook has been able to somehow buzz market themselves for both populations when others couldn´t.

• Facebook has been able to steal users from other sites. It is my impression that at least some people are coming to facebook, and leaving other sites completely. Why? In contrast, I think facebook has two advantages: its cleaner and more aesthetic, and it develops deeper, more integrated references (for example, in the picture tagging dynamic). It may make for a more complete, efficient social experience. Of course, it does depend on personal taste.
  

It wouldn´t surprise me to watch facebook takeoff and run with what they have, and with that they will develop along the way. Already, people are talking about just who will end up buying it. But your guess is as good as mine.

And on a related note:
This whole Facebook platform really get me thinking about the concept of integration, as it will allow for a substantial bit of sharing between other popular services on the web (for example, your Twitter or Veoh account in facebook).

Its a revolutionary idea that really is the basis for a lot of 2.0 ideas out there. But for me, having some integration really makes me want to have all integration (it just tastes so good!). I would love the idea of being able to get into facebook to access THE WORLD, but its a bit disheartening to see big services tied to big companies (flickr to yahoo, youtube and blogger to google, myspace to News Corp). Essentially, this whole movement is really trying to build an impossible bridge, and people are still going to have to jump all over the Internet to try to catch up.

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