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I quickly noted here and here that Facebook was in its interim period.

That period lasted for half a year from March 2009 to October 2009.

This is the visualization of the shift in Facebook’s direction.

What was Facebook intention for moving toward content in the first place

• Experiments for innovation. Even Mark was surprised that web games was loved so well
• Competition with Twitter

Why the move back in October 2009 makes sense

Firstly, the most Facebook can be is a content aggregator and hosting, not a critical content creation platform. Holding the position on the content side is not sustainable.

Secondly, content on Facebook serves the purpose of building relationship. The key is still relationship. Abandoning relationship to be on the content extremity was not sustainable either.

The gap

The shift to maintain balance between relationship and content leaves creates a gap between Facebook itself and its clones. e.g. Zing Me

And a gap is an opportunity.

3 Responses to “Facebook ends its interim period which is a good thing”

1. nuphero says:

   November 2, 2009 at 8:02 pm

   You mean this interface was changed recently is Facebook’s shift to relationship ? I think integrate Highlight and News feed (before) is a good idea, because it focus on social network core value : connections. However, who cares about someone is now friend with someone, and who join a group. My Live feed now is full of things I don’t care about, and I can’t hide them. And according to Mashable.com, many people hates new interface.
2. Tai says:

   November 5, 2009 at 8:48 am

   Those are things I do care. It’s simple that different people have different needs.
3. nuphero says:

   November 5, 2009 at 3:36 pm

   Sure, but if I can hide which I don’t care about is a good news.