Facebook Operating System (err.. Platform)
I was thinking recently about companies which have gained huge success on the web.
There are two types of those. The first type are companies like Google or MySpace which got huge traffic and success without bringing anything new to the web. Web Search and Social Networking existed years before Google and MySpace (accordingly). The second type which I respect more are companies that succeeded to change the rules completely. Managed to create services that didn't exist before or changed people behavior on the web or even changed the way people think...
PayPal, Ebay, Amazon among those. PayPal is the first bank on the web, should I describe services Ebay and Amazon provide ?
Clarification regarding Google: Google pioneered services like Adwords and Adsense. The scale of Adwords and Adsense is not big, however both helped monetize Google services big time.
A month ago Facebook Platform was launched. I think most people still don't really realize but what Facebook is trying to do is to create the first Web Operating System, when 3rd parties are able to develop and run their applications (both web and desktop) within Facebook servers, share traffic and money. I haven't seen this on the web before. Well, it's true that javascript widgets have been around for years, nevertheless Facebook Platform is something way too serious and organized.
Facebook hosts currently 2 types of applications: web and desktop. While a user can add a web application with a single click (95% of Facebook web applications are widgets or iframes), adding desktop application is much more difficult process, since a user has to download, install the application and only after that (if everything is OK) add it to his profile. Each user on Facebook desktop application worth more 100 fold than Facebook web application user worth. I guess...
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Friday, June 29, 2007 1:24 AM
