Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he wants
to make the social network ubiquitous. The new app Facebook Home goes
some way towards that goal, turning an Android smartphone into an
outpost for Facebook.
Zuckerberg wants to change how people use their smartphones and
Google's open-source operating system Android, which anyone can
tweak, offers him the perfect platform. It's the most widely used
smartphone operating system in the world and can be easily
customized.
Android devices rely heavily on the products of the internet
search giant, from Gmail to Google Maps. That is unless you install
Facebook Home. Then you're pushed firmly into the world of the social
network.
The home-screen, known as Cover Feed, the first thing the user
sees on the display, is a slideshow from Facebook news. Updates from
Facebook friends appear here and services such as being able to make
free internet calls via Facebook Messenger.
Once the Facebook app is installed it becomes more unlikely that
the user will avail of any of the other offerings of the Android
device.
The app takes Facebook's involvement in the lives of its users to
a new level. Facebook Home "destroys any notion of privacy,"
according to prominent technology blogger Om Malik.
"If you install it, it is very likely that Facebook will be able
to track your every step and every little action."
For example the phone's GPS sensor could mean that Facebook will
always know where its users are and access to the motion sensor could
even show whether the person is moving or stationary.
Facebook already knows a lot about its members and over a billion
people trust the company with their information despite criticism
from privacy advocates. Zuckerberg has made clear the new app's
ambitious goal: "At a deeper level, I think this can start to be a
change in how we use computing devices."
The company has more than just today's smartphone users in its
sights.
Currently only a third of the world's population is online but
Zuckerberg believes that in a few years the majority of the world's
population will have a smartphone. These are the people he seeks to
conquer with his mobile Facebook vision.
Facebook Home may be a masterstroke by Zuckerberg. The 28-year-old
has always cultivated a hacker mentality at Facebook and now the
company has effectively hacked into the world's leading smartphone
operating system. Android has 70-per-cent market share.
Android offers Facebook easy access to the devices of hundreds of
millions of people. The HTC First smartphone comes with Facebook Home
already installed and Facebook has also partnered with other hardware
makers including Samsung, Sony and the chip maker Qualcomm.
If eventually Cover Feed also comes with ads, then Facebook will
be able to tap into advertising revenue directly from the
home-screen. And Google can't do anything about it without breaking
the fundamental promise that Android is an open system.
The first public reaction from Google has been conciliatory,
praising Facebook Home for exploiting the possibilities of Android as
an open platform.
However, on the other hand Google recently replaced Andy Rubin who
was in charge of Android development and in February was adamant that
the platform would remain open. The new Android chief is Sundar
Pichai, who's also responsible for Google Chrome.
