Just finished watching Zuck’s keynote at Facebook’s f8 Developer Confrence
What is striking to me is how much emphasis was put on things that are popular.
Beginning in a few weeks when Facebook’s new (even newer) interface rolls out, Facebook is going to try to show me things that are popular amongst my friends. For instance:
- Many of my friends have watched movies with Johnny Depp
- Many of my friends have listened to Come As You Are by Nirvana
- Many of my friends go jogging in the same park
On top of this, Facebook is going to try to make it as easy as possible for me to copy those actions. With one click, I can listen to the same song many of my friends are listening to, or watch a movie that many of my friends have watched.
Don’t get me wrong, the technology they’re using to put this stuff together is really amazing, but I have to wonder if they’re putting too much emphasis on popularity.
If the best man at my wedding starts listening a lot to a new band, that’s much more interesting to me than what a mob of people I haven’t talked to in years is listening to.
I will have to think on this a bit more, and I don’t want to just jump on the “Bash on Facebook” bandwagon, but this all does make me question the relevance of Facebook’s newsfeed.
It’s not “News,” Facebook. It’s life. They’re not your friends. They’re mine.