learn. create. share. reflect. iterate.
damn right no one likes this.
Brad Stone and Ashlee Vance of Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with Mark Zuckerberg on the milestone:
We’re having a hackathon to celebrate this when we announce it publicly, and the theme is going to be the next billion. So people will be thinking of ideas and working on prototypes and things that we’ll need to do to help connect the next billion people, which I think is pretty cool.
And climbing.
How to Recognize Disruptive Opportunities
And why Twitter is more disruptive than Facebook.
Mark Suster is such a g, getting into the difference between emerging and disruptive technologies, open versus closed, and how companies need to start taking advantage of these tools.
Emerging technologies are new and cool, but only the rich kids on the block get to play with them. Think computers, circa early 1960s. Or 3D printers today, you know, whatever. These technologies become disruptive when they become an order of magnitude cheaper and an order of magnitude lower quality, since at that point they become accessible to orders of magnitude more people.
The interesting thing about that change, where an emerging technology becomes disruptive, is that the quality of the disruptive technology continues to increase; and once it reaches a certain level, the established titans of the industry who’ve been selling high-quality versions at obscene margins are displaced. It is at this point that the emerging technology which used to be expensive and exclusive transforms into a disruptive technology that is accessible and open.
Mark Suster takes some time to criticize Apple and Facebook for being closed systems, and I love him for it (even though I fanboy pretty hard for the two). He believes that the future is getting more open, especially on the Internet, and that segues into why Twitter is more disruptive than Facebook — it’s more open.
3D printing is only getting more and more compelling…
No evidence can suggest who the bots belong to.
But it’s sketch. Highly suspect. And Facebook is under a lot of pressure to look good right now, and have ad revenue in order.
Cuz evidence, yeah there isn’t anything truly solid there. But circumstance? And motive?? Yeah, we got those.
Facebook Monitors Your Chats for Criminal Activity
Facebook and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behavior is detected, according to a report.
The screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language.
The software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also “smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.
If the scanning software flags a suspicious chat exchange, it notifies Facebook security employees, who can then determine if police should be notified.
Keeping most of the scanned chats out of the eyes of Facebook employees may help Facebook deflect criticism from privacy advocates, but whether the scanned chats are deleted or stored permanently is yet unknown. Mashable has reached out to Facebook for additional information, and we’ll update this post when we hear back.
The new details about Facebook’s monitoring system came from an interview which the company’s Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan gave to Reuters. At least one alleged child predator has been brought to trial directly as a result of Facebook’s chat scanning, according to Reuters’ report.
SEE ALSO: State Law Requires Sex Offenders to List Status on Facebook
Facebook works with law enforcement “where appropriate and to the extent required by law to ensure the safety of the people who use Facebook,” according to a page on its site.
“We may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests (including criminal and civil matters) if we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law. This may include respecting requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law under the local laws in that jurisdiction, apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are consistent with generally accepted international standards.
“We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities.”
Indeed, Facebook has cooperated with police investigations in the past. In April, it complied with a police subpoena from the Boston Police Department by sending printouts of wall posts, photos and login/IP data of a murder suspect.
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Am I surprised….not really.
Done with FB chat.
Seriously, fuck you guys.
Fucking geniuses.
Speaking of Facebook needing to build their own phone, Nick Bilton has a bit more today:
Employees of Facebook and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there, as well as people briefed on Facebook’s plans, say the company hopes to release its own smartphone by next year.
Third time is a charm, right?
It’s happening. And it may very well make or break Facebook.
It’s an interesting rumor from Pocket-lint citing “trusted sources”. And there are some further signs of this possibility, as Robin Wauters reports.
I’ve long-thought that Facebook would eventually build their own browser — and buying one would be significantly easier than building one from scratch. But the more I think about this now, the more I’m convinced that Facebook is going to bet the entire company on mobile. They’re already starting to. Instagram deal, etc.
That could mean acquiring Opera to take over their mobile browser project — and reports like this may back that idea up. But even that would be a temporary move. Facebook still needs to build their own phone (or at least phone OS) if they truly want to succeed in mobile.
I was a bit surprised when I first saw the screen above on the (great) new Facebook Camera app. That’s the initial screen you get when you first open the app. But how on Earth did the app know my name? I assumed, of course, it was related to the fact that I also had the main Facebook iOS app installed on my iPhone — but still, how did those two apps talk to one another as neither is system-level?
Here’s how. (And here’s Apple’s documentation on it.)
It’s a smart way to do it (though it may get a bit of backlash). And it will allow Facebook to continue to build separate apps for key features — perhaps an Events app next? — that are quick and easy to install and use. Now just imagine if this was baked into iOS itself so other apps could use it (just like the Twitter iOS integration, but actually even a little more seamless). It would save a lot of typing and/or a number of clicks for app switching (Single Sign On). In my mind, this “hack” shows why Facebook eventually needs to do their own mobile OS. Deep integration and seamless use are paramount in mobile.
I would love to see what Zuck could do to a phone.
Why Facebook is Killing Silicon Valley (by Steve Blank)
As a venture capitalist, who are you gonna invest in? A biotech company that won’t see a dime in revenue for ten years (if ever), or a social media company that could blow up and get you 100s of millions, if not billions, in 3-5 years?
The choice is obvious, and it’s wrecking the startup community.
We need startups and innovation in every sector, not just social media, software, and web technology. But as an investor, how do you justify investing in anything else? Some of the best risk-reward ratios in history are being found in these sectors — I dare you to go throw $1m at someone who says they’ll have a cure for cancer in ten years.
When everyone’s moving into an industry, it’s time to get out.
Or fix the underlying problem — there’s a lack of funding available for non-tech startups (or high-tech startups).
It’s about time. I know this seems a bit crazy given the recent (but not yet completed) Instagram purchase. But I had heard a few weeks ago that the app was really close to being done.
Remember, the Instagram deal was done very quickly by Zuckerberg himself. I imagine they figured there was no point scrapping all the work this team was doing — at first glance, the app looks great — especially since the plan is to let Instagram operate mostly autonomously. And again, the Instagram deal isn’t done just yet (but it will get done).
Props, this is gonna make pictures on Facebook so much better — and for mobile too! Gotta get me an iPhone, this OG Droid 1 has such a shitty camera…
