Sroys

FaceBook Next Google

Today we are announcing Facebook Connect. Facebook Connect is the next iteration of Facebook Platform that allows users to “connect” their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site. This will now enable third party websites to implement and offer even more features of Facebook Platform off of Facebook – similar to features available to third party applications today on Facebook.

Imagine getting updates from friends about which movie review the commented on - which product they bought - which website they think are their favorites. Imagine facebook connecting with services like disqus - imagine knowing what they are saying on blogs. Now isn’t this priceless information - facebook will know which websites are the authority in each and every single industry - which blogs have the most comments on a particullar subject. Surely this information is way better ranking factors.

But all this will happen when Facebook creates and makes it easy for people to integrate their website into a social network. If anyone with a facebook login is allowed to login into my forum and allowed to access information and place comments - and if facebook indexes these pages and know exactly who commented on the page and who their friends are and who their friends friends are - and where they are located. The amount of information and what can be done with it is limitless.


One of the key ways Google climbed to the top was by rewarding publishers through their adsense program - I believe many will agree that without Google and adsense the Internet would’ve been a different place. The amount of information these publishers and their users threw at Google - through toolbars and analytics is just immense - this intelligence has been used by Google very well - and if FaceBook can do the same - or better - since their information can be even more valuable and more “Human” - imagine what they can do.

But will FaceBook have the foresight to see who they need on their side to make this possible - that is the big question. If they can make it easy for publishers [even small fry publishers like me] using the popular open source or paid software packages like wordpress, vbulletin, phpbb to connect with FaceBook and exchange information and members - FaceBook - with proper programming - can become an immense information source.

Imagine me going to FaceBook Search and searching for “human resource management” and learning that john who is friend of joe - who is my friend - uses and has commented on an article on one of the websites - perhaps there can be a way where you can see the degree of separation from the users who have used sites dealing in “human resource management” - imagine having a way to connect with these people who seem to have gone through the same issues I am facing. Or maybe I am thinking about buying a digital camera - and my FaceBook Search shows me which websites my friends and my friend’s friends visited - who said what - maybe even which camera they bought finally.

I just hope that FaceBook will take it up and do this - it’s their chance to become the next Google.