Consumer Guide for Today's Media

By Ava Dinges

If you thought the Newsfeed was the next best thing since sliced bread, just wait until you hear whatFacebook has planned for you next. The newest Facebook redesign will include such things as the wall-feed, and strive to bring Facebook closer to its roots as a communication website.

On Tuesday, March 25, Facebook hosted its first Developer Roundtable events at its offices in Palo Alto, Cali., to discuss its newest platform. Private developers across the country were encouraged to attend, provided they could add value to the conversation.

Facebook called for invitation requests back in early March, inviting developers to attend any of the many roundtables to be held within the next several months. The topic on hand at this week’s event was: redesigning the profile page and restoring the application system reputation, according to private developer Justin Smith, who attended the first event.

Sasha Rush, Facebook software engineer, said that “the main goals of the redesign is to help users communicate and share information more efficiently, generate more meaningful activity and increase user trust”, according to Smith's notes from the event. Among the updates will be a merging of the wall and Newsfeed, since Rush said Facebook views these as the “most important communication channels” on the site. Facebook also plans to add tabs to the website, which will help hide the more static profile information, turning more attention toward newly posted information.

While most people will appreciate how much these new updates will de-clutter the website, users should also know that the updates are geared toward maintaining the essence of social networking websites: communication. The feed’s focus will move away from broadcasting what users have done, to sharing more about content being created, said Rush.

Sounds like Facebook is trying to step away from its current look as social site, and reach toward becoming more of a news medium. With that, one problem seems to arise, as it has arisen for every other news organization trying to make it online: How will the site make money? New media companies have yet to establish financial platform that actually works, so why is facebook spending so much time on goal that’s unrelated to making money.

Smith, who tracks facebook diligently on his Inside Facebook blog, has a more idealistic and positive take on Facebook’s latest initiative. He does not see this new initiative as one that will “instantly reap financial benefits”, yet sees it more as a “long term plan that has the potential to significantly change how the world shares information.”

Nicely said, but Facebook still needs a way to make some money, especially if it heads in the communication-based direction. Personally, I’m not going to lose sleep over facebook’s potential losses. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg must know what he’s doing. Anyone capable of creating a colossal online empire like facebook while still in college, shows hope of innovativeness. I mean, the "kid" (23-year-old) is the world's youngest self-made billionare. Who knows, maybe Facebook will be the first beat everyone to the financial platform punch.