Facebook Gets Patent On News Feeds
February 26, 2010
A number of social networks may be in a significant amount of trouble. Facebook has managed to patent the idea of "dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network."
This is no rumor or joke; the paperwork is all in order. Facebook filed for what the United States Patent and Trademark Office has designated patent number 7,669,123 in August of 2006, and Mark Zuckerberg's name appears eight times on the official document.
As for what, exactly, the patent covers, the abstract describes it as "[a] method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment . . . . The method includes generating news items regarding activities associated with a user of a social network environment and attaching an informational link associated with at least one of the activities, to at least one of the news items, as well as limiting access to the news items to a predetermined set of viewers and assigning an order to the news items."
So it's possible that we'll see Facebook sue every competitor with anything resembling a news feed. These theoretical lawsuits could turn out in its favor, too.
There are a few reasons that Facebook might not get overly aggressive, though. First is the simple fact that enforcing this patent and attacking the rest of the social media industry would upset people. No company enjoys bad PR and protests.
Second, Facebook has been on something of an open source kick in recent months, and unleashing the lawyers would represent a significant turnaround.
Finally, it's necessary to consider what Nick O'Neill, who first came across the patent, wrote: "It appears that this patent surrounds implicit actions. This means status updates, which is what Twitter is based on, are not part of this patent. Instead, this is about stories about the actions of a user's friends. While still significant, the implications for competing social networks may be less substantial."
Facebook Gets Patent On News Feeds
February 26, 2010
A number of social networks may be in a significant amount of trouble. Facebook has managed to patent the idea of "dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network."
This is no rumor or joke; the paperwork is all in order. Facebook filed for what the United States Patent and Trademark Office has designated patent number 7,669,123 in August of 2006, and Mark Zuckerberg's name appears eight times on the official document.
As for what, exactly, the patent covers, the abstract describes it as "[a] method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment . . . . The method includes generating news items regarding activities associated with a user of a social network environment and attaching an informational link associated with at least one of the activities, to at least one of the news items, as well as limiting access to the news items to a predetermined set of viewers and assigning an order to the news items."
So it's possible that we'll see Facebook sue every competitor with anything resembling a news feed. These theoretical lawsuits could turn out in its favor, too.
There are a few reasons that Facebook might not get overly aggressive, though. First is the simple fact that enforcing this patent and attacking the rest of the social media industry would upset people. No company enjoys bad PR and protests.
Second, Facebook has been on something of an open source kick in recent months, and unleashing the lawyers would represent a significant turnaround.
Finally, it's necessary to consider what Nick O'Neill, who first came across the patent, wrote: "It appears that this patent surrounds implicit actions. This means status updates, which is what Twitter is based on, are not part of this patent. Instead, this is about stories about the actions of a user's friends. While still significant, the implications for competing social networks may be less substantial."
Facebook Nabs #1 Honors For Site Visits On Christmas Day
December 30, 2009
While most of us in the Internet marketing “industry” were all aghast at the Facebook privacy problem of ’09, the rest of the world could have cared less. You know those people, right? The ones who don’t live and breathe this stuff to the point that all perspective is lost? These are the ‘everyday’ Facebook users who don’t give a rip about Mark Zuckerberg and the continued search for 7,000 people who care enough to impact any policy changes with the social media giant. 
So those regular folks pushed Facebook to a point where it had never been before: the number one site during the Christmas holiday. ReadWriteWeb tells us
Christmas is a holiday that brings people together, so perhaps it should be no surprise that Facebook has become a part of millions of peoples’ Christmas experiences. For the first time in its history, Facebook was the #1 most visited website in the United States on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, according to traffic analyst firm Hitwise today.
Makes sense doesn’t it? Personally I was more prone to using Skype rather than updating everyone but that is certainly a personal preference.
So while the site finished third for the year behind Google and Yahoo Mail it was certainly a milestone to be seen as the Christmas site of choice. Last year Facebook finished second in this contest to Google but was able to flip positions this year.
See what a year of gigantic growth can do for you? Wonder if Santa will be as nice to Facebook next year after the rest of the world catches on that their “goings on” at Facebook aren’t as private as they used to be?
Mark Zuckerberg Is Hesitant Going Fully ‘Public’ With His Facebook Profile
December 15, 2009
Mark Zuckerberg and I aren’t Facebook friends. That’s cool; I don’t know him. Until recently, all I could see of his profile was his picture, networks and friend list. But this morning, either the Facebook CEO had decided that’s what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, or even he didn’t know what the new privacy settings changed.
I’m going to guess that it was B, because since the articles on True Slant and ValleyWag have run, Zuckerberg’s profile is a lot more private.
On his Page (where you can be his fan, not to be confused with his profile), Zuckerberg defends the change:
For those wondering, I set most of my content on my personal Facebook page to be open so people could see it. I set some of my content to be more private, but I didn’t see a need to limit visibility of pics with my friends, family or my teddy bear
Oh, really? Because when I try to visit his profile, I get a “Mark only shares some of his profile information with everyone.” message at the top of his profile, and no photos.
Zuckerberg does still share some of his info with everyone: his basic info, personal info (only the about me: “i’m trying to make the world a more open place.”), education and work, and five of the pages he’s a fan of. (These five rotate; screen caps from the privacy changes indicate he has 17 pages.) Also public: his links, friends and events.
There is, of course, another possibility as to why some people like Kashmir Hill can see his photos—they have mutual friends (Hill’s is another Facebook employee). When you update your privacy settings, the new default setting for photos is to make them visible to “Friends of Friends.” (I’ve contacted Ryan Tate to see if he also has at least one mutual friend, but haven’t heard back yet. Mark and I share no friends.)
But really, as Facebook is pushing more people to go public, and if Zuckerberg is really “trying to make the world a more open place,” he could do a lot more opening himself. The CEO of the site might be seen as an example to users—and if he really wants them to go public, should he be willing to do the same?
What do you think? Was this an accident on Zuckerberg’s part, or because Tate and Hill have mutual friends?
