I think the impact of this with be either nothing or resounding, with little in between. If Facebook offers a really cool tool, they could really up the time that people (and I'm thinking primarily prospective students in this case) spend on the site, to the detriment of other social networks. Also, since Facebook is really the "it" social network of the moment, is this going to up the expectations of other networks? So, for example, if you have a home-grown solution for your prospective students, are they doing to be disappointed that they can't IM their new "friends" on it?
From ZDNet:
March 18th, 2008
Facebook privacy controls, IM on the way
Posted by Larry Dignan @ 12:02 pm
Facebook will roll out new privacy features and instant messaging the company said in a press briefing Tuesday.
According to News.com’s Dan Farber and Caroline McCarthy Facebook will roll out these features tonight or Wednesday morning.
Among the two features:
-Facebook will enable members to choose how much of their profiles are visible to friends in a “friend of friends” option. This feature is way overdue given the mix of professional and personal friends on your Facebook profile. For instance, I probably don’t want PR people seeing me pounding beers.
-More disruptive may be Facebook’s instant messaging service, dubbed Facebook Chat. IM is a nice addition to Facebook and will give folks an excuse to stay on the site longer. It’ll be interesting to see how Facebook Chat impacts current IM clients out there. Facebook IM will be launched in about two weeks.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment