Facebook Effect Part II

In the second third of the book, Kirkpatrick begins to discuss how "TheFacebook" really begins to pick up, and starts to draw the attention of financial investors. It seems like one of the main things that the investors liked about facebook was how much of the market it had penetrated and how interactive the website was with its users. No social networking platform had allowed for such a great amount of interaction before. It had began to grow to other demographics such as high schools. "Facebook was no longer just a college phenomenon" (pg. 150) I think this was the point at which it had begun the process of "selling out." Others may see it as one step closer to bringing the whole world together on the internet.
The news feed feature was added in the year 2006, which allows users to see their friends' facebook activity with other people. This was a monumental change in the website's interface, because now not only can you communicate with others, but you can also monitor and follow their socialization activity. As Kirkpatrick states, "The News Feed would be a radical change. It's not a new feature, it's a major a product evolution...It would remake Facebook" (pg 180). Slowly but surely, all the information put up on the Facebook was becoming more and more accessible. A great tool for many, but at the cost of privacy.
I think the addition of the news feed feature kind of changed the purpose of facebook. It became a way to peer into your friends lives, and even acquaintances, to see what everybody is up to. Whereas before it was mostly about staying intimately in touch with your close friends instead of having to resort to a phone, email etc. It may have at first been an issue, but now "we are more comfortable sharing our lives and thoughts instantly to thousands of people, close friends and strangers alike. "
I find it interesting that when facebook had begun to make a name for itself, it was stealing highly intellectual employees from corporate giants such as Amazon. I think the hardest part of being a successful company, is not getting there, but maintaining it. Zuckerberg did a good job with working to hire talent that could add substantial growth to the website.