Facebook Makes Another Twitter-Like Move

Starting Today, You Can Make Status Updates Public

Posted by Ian Schafer on 06.25.09 @ 11:32 AM

Facebook just took another shot at Twitter.

Starting now, you can publish status updates not just to your "friends" on Facebook but to everyone. That means your status updates can be visible to not only those in your social network but those who aren't and, maybe even more importantly, Google, Bing and every other search engine that indexes Facebook pages and profiles.

Here's how the setting looks, courtesy of AllFacebook:

This is definitely a first step toward opening up a platform that has built its success on giving its users full control of letting only certain people in. Perhaps Facebook is realizing that being ubiquitous means opening up even further than the Facebook Connect platform has allowed it to. Or maybe it's just feeling the Twitter heat. Either way, Facebook just got a little more public.

When Facebook launched its Pages product, it made brand pages look, feel and act more like profiles. Now profiles are acting more like Pages. If this is a step toward going the "full monty," is it something that users will embrace -- or shun? Either way, this is something to pay attention to. I'm sure Facebook will be paying very close attention to it.

We all live in public now, apparently.

~ ~ ~
Ian Schafer is CEO of Deep Focus.

4 Comments

By thelostagency | Brisbane June 25, 2009 12:23:59 pm:

I would have to say it seems something that is prone to mistake, im not sure that i feel comfortable in being able to set my privacy settings high, but then when not paying attention broadcast out my facebook status update which is usually personal.

I dont see how this is a feature which would be in users best interest, Facebook does not work with public access based on the family networks, private information, tagged photos and a kind of circle of trust.

The point about this is that status comments are becoming the new way to engage with friends and has taken the role of writing on peoples wall. So if someone makes their status update public and allows search engines to crawl their profile your comment has now potentially been made public.

This update is something that just seems to cause issues and problems do you know have to check if the status is public/visible before you make the decision to interact. It seems to place a seed of distrust among facebook users...

Not a good step forward!

http://thelostagency.wordpress.com

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By mehraban | Ann Arbor, MI June 25, 2009 03:17:29 pm:

With vanity URL's and public status updates, my facebook.com/mehraban is very similar to my twitter.com/mehraban. And why do I need both? A very interesting devlopment to say the least.

I think this is a welcome change. I have been using the Facebook to Twitter app for some time. I like pushing out from FB, better than pulling in. Tweetdeck has since solved my problem, because I can update both or one or the other from the Tweetdeck interface.

Facebook continues to keep being the best social networking site out there. Opening up is good news IMHO.

http://thedigitalbus.com

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By nickkinports | Chicago, IL June 25, 2009 04:51:11 pm:

A smart move by Facebook. Privacy advocates will be upset by this move, however to stay relevant Facebook is going to have to become more transparent and more searchable.

Nicholas E. Kinports
Digital Integration Manager
Blog: http://admaven.blogspot.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nkinports
Twitter: http://twitter.com/admaven

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By krisolin | Brisbane June 25, 2009 07:38:16 pm:

Yes, Facebook has been imitating Twitter ecer since it lost its $500M bid to buy Twitter. First they changed their homepage to look and act like Twitter, and actually made a very good job at it. And now this status publishing option. Good work, Facebook!

Kris Olin
Web Designer, Msc(econ.)
Web: http://www.krisolin.com
Blog: http://facebook-advertising-marketing.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/KrisOlin

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