Facebook Founder Reveals Vision for a More Social Internet
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| Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg |
In his keynote at the annual Facebook Developer Conference in San Francisco, company founder Mark Zuckerberg described a vision of a more social Internet that could be created with a technology called "Open Graph".
"It's all about real friends, real identity," said Zuckerberg. "We're building towards a web where the default is social."
Zuckerberg said the Internet today is a set of separate networks that can't easily share social information across different sites. Even on Facebook , where sharing is encouraged, user updates are ephemeral, he said.
"When you post something, it shows up in the stream, but will only be seen by friends who happen to be on in the next three hours," said Zuckerberg. "And then it floats away."
Zuckerberg says Open Graph will solve these problems. Here's how Open Graph works:
When a Facebook user visits a site – even for the first time – Open Graph partner sites will display their Facebook friends' recommendations and preferences. No login to the site or to Facebook Connect is required, and the information will flow back into a user's Facebook news stream over time.
"I can go to CNN . I can immediately see that three of my friends like this article without CNN ever knowing who I am and who my friends are. Then I can like it and it forms new connections in the Open Graph," explained Zuckerberg.
Thirty partners were announced who have incorporated the new Open Graph functionality into their sites, Zuckerberg said, including ESPN, CNN, Pandora, Sephora and Yelp.
"Our goal today to use the Open Graph so people can have instant personalized experiences wherever they go," said Zuckerberg.
The new personalized, social information is made possible through Facebook Social Plugins, which sites can install with only one line of HTML code.
Facebook also announced several changes for site developers to make Open Graph integration easier. As of today, the 24-hour time limit for sites storing Facebook data has been lifted.
"There's an old saying: When you go to heaven, all of your friends are there and it's the way you want it to be," Zuckerberg said at the end of his speech. "Let's make that world. Thanks for coming out."
