The Facebook overhaul announced at F8 yesterday is easily the most significant social-media development of 2010 — and it’ll be a tough act to follow for anyone to follow this year.
Like all great shifts, it’s impossible to say what these changes will mean. Are we looking at a shiny new dawn of the social Web? Or is this the biggest invasion of privacy this side of a George Orwell novel? A boon for marketers everywhere? A naked grab for power?
Talking informally with friends yesterday about the changes, I was struck by how divided many people were. Some people were salivating about how the changes would enhance their businesses — and then they’d turn right around and fret about what would happen to all their personal data. I found myself feeling the same way — profoundly torn between the promises and the perils of that much data. The only thing I can be sure of right now is that I’m dying to learn how these changes will unfold each day as I prepare SmartBrief on Social Media. The biggest news of the year may already be out — but the story is just beginning.
What about you? Are you more excited or concerned by these announcements? How will you respond to these changes? Personally? Professionally? What will we need to relearn to survive in “a Web where the default is social”?
Image credit, Gunnar Pippel, via Shutterstock