Why does Snapchat, which only lives one-tenth of its own a month, make Facebook so nervous? The source of everything may have to start with the failed platform reform ten years ago.
Today, Facebook's default interface is the Buy email list News Feed. But if you have used the early Facebook App, you will definitely remember this nine-square grid interface (Renren also used this layout). It's literally a replica of the iPhone's home screen.
This similarity is no coincidence. As early as the F8 conference in 2007, Zuckerberg announced the creation of an open social platform: "Any developer can build an application in the Facebook ecosystem", and shared the data of 24 million users, entered the information flow, and even Permission to get push notifications.
This is a huge gift. Its significance to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs is comparable to WeChat mini-programs, or even more. Zhang Xiaolong emphasized "restraint" and "use it right away", and did not even give QR code diversion in the early days. As the largest social platform at the time, Facebook allowed external applications to appear on the first screen and in the information flow (rather than hidden under the secondary menu like a small program), and directly sent a full set of APIs, indicating casual toss.
Why Zuckerberg will resort to such a radical strategy?
First of all, Facebook has limited business after all . Unlike Google, it has multiple business lines such as search, Youtube, Gmail, and music, which can completely cover users' online behavior.
As a result, when Facebook competes with Google for advertisers, it will lose the competition due to insufficient data reserves and difficulty in giving clear user portraits. With external apps, Facebook can alleviate this problem to some extent. One of the most popular Facebook apps at the time, iLike, featured music sharing.