With the launch of Google+, the pressure was on Facebook to deliver something big at the F8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco on Sept. 22. The main takeaway from the presentation led by founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook will keep evolving, and in the long run everyone else will keep playing catch-up.
The revamp is intended to make Facebook more of an outlet for one's personal history and passions. More important, it'll be a place to share those passions instead of merely signifying them. Communicators can rest easy in the wake Google+—Facebook users will not be abandoning ship anytime soon.
First off, Zuckeberg introduced "Timeline," a complete revamping of personal profiles that "tells the story of your life" in scrapbook-style with images, maps, videos and more.
"We want to make Timeline a place that you’re proud to call home, and express who you really are," Zuckerberg said at F8.
Then Zuckerberg announced a new Open Graph for app developers that will "lead to a completely new class of apps." Through a new permissions system, videos being watched, music being listened to and articles and books being read can be shared via a non-intrusive, "lightweight" ticker feed. Among the content companies producing apps for Open Graph are music services Spotify and Rhapsody; and video services Hulu and, eventually, Netflix. Content can be viewed or read without leaving Facebook, thus leading to more sharing of content among networks of friends, and fewer reasons to leave.
"We’re going to make it so you can connect to anything you want," Zuckerberg said.