Past December, somewhat under the radar, Facebook got rid of the “is” in the status updates, with 182,015 members of the Petition to Get Rid of “is” from Facebook Status Update! promptly taking the well deserved credit.
A profoundly radical departure, a new philosophy on the “status” craze is at the heart of yesterday’s Twitter-like redesign of the Facebook. Long gone is the mandatory “is”, gone is “what are you doing right now?” and instead Facebook now prompts you to “share” “what’s on your mind?” while Twitter still wants an “update” on “what are you doing?” Facebook has no length limitation and now encourages you to share your thoughts, not actions, complete with links, videos and photos.
We will soon find out if the Twitter 140 character limit is the mission critical, mobile enabling advantage or a temporary constraint. We will also find out if the new blog-post-like status (technically not a “status” anymore) format in Facebook will significantly disrupt the traditional blogging.
Facebook is moving past this:
pizza with @followmyass @vcme @suggesteduser on the corner of L and 13th #bsconferencedujour check it //picshorturl.foodporn
Facebook might be conceding the real time search to Twitter. But perhaps Facebook has something far more ambitious in “mind” – a blog written collectively by everyone in the world?
Further Reading: