The CEO Game

On Facebook’s new move which just might change the Web as we know it.

Facebook wants it all: the popular social network is expanding and seeks to take over the Web. As the first day of Facebook’s annual “f8″ developers conference got underway this Wednesday in San Francisco, Facebook revealed its plans to take over the entire Internet. The means: integrating its social networking service into all websites and deepening the connection between the Web itself to its users. In short: Facebook will be wherever you look, whenever you look. A revolution?

Puts people at the center

After making an entrance which is reserved only for rock stars, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg got down to the business of explaining what their plans are all about. He then rolled out a bunch of changes that are all apart of an “unavoidable evolution” in people’s interactions, activities, events and interests all folded into their online identities who follow them all across the Web.

The crown jewel of the new Facebook platform is what Zuckerberg likes to call the “Open Graph”, “the most transformative thing we’ve ever done for the Web”, according to him. “Today, the Web exists as a series of unstructured links between pages,” said Zuckerberg, whose social network boasts more than 400 million users around the world. “The open graph puts people at the center of the Web”.

The concept, is basically to map out user behavior across various corners of the Internet. He explained that this can be achieved by using information gathered from a user’s general online behavior. Thus creating “a smarter, personalized Web that gets better with every action taken”.

He then gave the example of a Facebook user who clicks on a news story in CNN and then automatically sees which of their friends liked that piece. In addition, a Facebook member could visit Pandora (an online radio station) or ESPN online and instantly share “likes” or “dislikes” about the song being played or game news with their friends in Facebook. “Pandora will start playing music from bands you have liked all across the Web,” Zuckerberg said. It’s a revolution in the way we experience the Web, everything is interlinked and any page can become a de facto Facebook page.

Moreover, Facebook vice president of engineering Mike Schroepfer believes the move could turn websites into digital age versions of “Cheers”, the old TV comedy show set in a bar where everyone knows each other. “It’s like Cheers, the bar where everyone knows your name,” Schroepfer announced.”People can have instantly social and personalized experiences everywhere they go”, Zuckerberg added.

Facebook’s move is a strike at their competitors (like Web searching giant Google) who constantly fight for people’s attention and advertising bucks. Zuckerberg said that Facebook seeks to benefit by strengthening bonds people have to the social networking service. “The more people use Facebook the stronger the bond”, he added.

Finally, the new tools have one downside- they could mean less and less people will visit the Facebook site itself. “How do we create a world where when we show up anywhere our friends are there?” Facebook vice president Chris Cox asked rhetorically. “Our answer is an open platform and to give these tools to developers”. A one which just might change the Web as we know it.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game

Microsoft announced earlier this week on Kin, their new line of phones, which puts the emphasis on social networks, SMS-texting and sharing. In a press conference held this week (Monday), Microsoft has launched their brand new mobile devices which plan to stay ahead of the competition, by appealing to younger audience. According to Microsoft, the whole purpose of the Kins is to make using and interacting with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter convenient and easy. On top of that, they promise a relatively low price.

Microsoft's Kins

The announcement itself comes as no surprise, just a short time after launching the Windows Phone 7 operating system which is intended for Premium mobile devices. Lately Microsoft realized that the cellular market is a cash cow. So now, they seek to grab a bigger bite of this market, by creating quality phones that come along with low prices, designed especially for teenagers who make use of many social networks and texting services. They want to create a device where the users’ entire “digital life” and content comes together into a single a platform, which is exactly what the users want, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft launched two models: Kin1 and Kin2 (how original). Both of these devices look very impressive. In one button click, users can update from the Kin their status on all social networks they are members of. By moving their finger across the screen, users can decide on files that will be shared with their friends as well as decide with which friends exactly, all this- with no clicks. The device knows who are our closest friends, with whom we talk the most and respond to their social networks’ statuses. It also ranks the contacts by the frequency we make conversations with that.

Moreover, they are Microsoft’s first mobile devices which support Zune, including an option of song recommendations and requests by other users and remotely streaming songs. The Kin1 (previously known as the Turtle) is equipped with 5 MP “shooter” with flash, mono speakers, 4 GB of on-board storage, Zune media player, and a small touch screen. On the contrary, the Kin2 is a bit better and packs a 8 MP camera and ability to shoot HD video in a resolution of 720p, 8 GB of storage ,stereo speakers, a tuner, larger sliding keyboard and a larger touch screen. Some of these are quite important when texting all of the time. Because the storage is limited, Microsoft allows backing up all the content into cloud computing- which is a new concept, especially in the cellular world.

The supported social networks include Windows live, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter and using the “Loop” interface (for uploading content) users will be able to upload pictures and videos with no need to use additional software. In addition, Microsoft has just launched www.kin.com, the Internet hub for their new line of phones. The site itself is composed of a time-line with pictures which are attached along it, just like the “story of our life”.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

What’s all the fuzz about?  Now that Google’s Buzz has struck root in our Gmail and after some few days of everybody playing around with it and publishing nearly 10 million items, its advantages, weak-points and bugs are become more and more apparent. The truth, we are kind of mixed up here at theceogame.com so we decided to go and check out what others think about the Buzz.

What's all the fuzz about?

Here are some opinions we gathered from users who already made up their mind about Google Buzz:

• Google CEO must apologize: “Whoever made the decision to make all our contacts visible to all other contacts in Google Inc. should apologize profusely, because that person doesn’t have a clue about what privacy means. If the person, even if it is the CEO, doesn’t apologize, he/she should be fired.”
• Excellent work Google: “Who would have thought it’d be possible to juxtapose Google and Microsoft for the roles of “evil corporate entity” and “solid technological concern!” Wow, you out evil’ed MS just as they started getting their shit together and are bringing competitive tools to the table. Fantastic!”
• Like having a really terrible day- every day: “Facebook is you stepping out to greet the day with shoes, socks, pants, a full tummy, some coffee and a shower. Buzz is you being dragged effing directly out of bed and onto the front porch naked at 5am.”
• Force-fed features are a NO-GO: “I did not want. I immediately scrolled to the bottom to turn it off. It of course it re-loaded the next time. I am REALLY mad about the privacy issue.”
• Breach of trust: “I am a lawyer. The names of clients, witnesses, investigators, and expert witnesses are all confidential, and Google just breached the trust that my clients have in me to keep ALL of their information confidential. I signed up for email. Not social networking. We can no longer trust Google. They do not appreciate our privacy. Lawyers must immediately cease using Google provided services since they breach our client’s privacy.”
• What happened to Wave: “What happened to Google Wave, a seemingly far superior service, one that could actually change the way we socially network and not merely augment e-mail with broadcasting? Wave is way better- more private, more content, better interface. Why they forced Buzz on people but have kept Wave in sem-private beta is beyond me.”

In conclusion, although Google’s shot at creating a social network seems like a bright idea, many users have already turned away from the service. The most recurring comments talk about a breach of trust or how Google simply did what it preached against all along.

So if you have been Buzzed, and want to share as well like these guys did on the web, please tell us how it made you feel, whether you liked or disliked it, whether you found some bugs or just made a revelation about the service that everybody has got to know.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

Twitter watch out, Facebook beware? After Facebook has announced on a mail service, searching giant Google has announced tonight (Tuesday) on a new media sharing service and status updating platform named “Buzz”: which will transform Gmail to a social network that will compete with the large social networks. Following today’s earlier reports, Google held a press conference tonight which was broadcasted on YouTube, Google’s very own video site. The new out bursting service Buzz, will be an “entire separate world inside Gmail” according to Tod Jackson, the product manager.

Go search for your friends in Google. The goal of the new service is to allow sharing friends with links, RSS feeds, media content such as Picasa’s galleries or YouTube clips, addresses books and to allow status updates as well, just like in Twitter. Buzz will be mobile friendly and even support the iPhone and it’s URL is buzz.google.com.

Anytime Anywhere. Those mobile users will also be able to inform Buzz of their Geographic whereabouts, and therefore not only update what’s going on but where. The social network will also be available as a new GIS layer in Google’s maps service, Google Earth.

Security and Privacy. Google promises to advanced and easy security settings and moreover privacy settings such as blocking user from watching your updates, and removing them from the loop, the friend update list. Of course you will be able to watch the updates of other users who aren’t your friends, but have made their updates and statuses public.

Google has also announced future plans to create an enterprise version of Buzz which will be designated for inner organization communication. The company said that Gmail users, will soon start seeing the social network’s features in their mailboxes, while other users will be able to get more information from the site which will launch soon.

In Conclusion Google’s new Buzz, will definitely fuel the raging feud amongst the social networks and it might just be the next big thing. It sounds promising and definitely something to watch out for especially when Google says the next step is “to dial Buzz”.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.