Facebook is now iPhone specific

[eelixduppy]

I was messing around before and stumbled upon this: [iphone.facebook.com...]

Kind of an interesting layout. I don't think its more than 2 weeks old.

Do you think that all the work put into an iphone specific webpage layout is worth it right now?

[rogerd]

As far as current traffic impact, it probably isn't worth much. On the other hand, the demographic match of iPhone and Facebook users is pretty good, and if they can become the defacto social network for iPhone users that could pay dividends down the road.

Interesting, thanks for posting that.

[jtara]

Facebook needs all the new constitutencies they can get, as they've done a pretty good job of alienating and scaring-off their existing users.

From October Advanced Trading:

Financial Services Firms Ban Facebook

A growing number of companies in all industries are blocking their employees from using the popular social networking Web site Facebook based on fears of procrastination and security concerns...

Fifty percent of companies ban their employees from accessing Facebook...

Many are also afraid that their employees are sharing too much information on the site, which could in turn load to targeted phishing attacks...

IMO, Facebook sold-out their users. Next thing for sale, IMO, is Facebook - at a big discount to somebody with deep pockets who can afford the inevitable lawsuits to come.

They need all the buzz they can generate prior to the sale.

[lorenzinho2]

JTara, you make it sound like Facebook is struggling.

They're not.

Month over month traffic growth was about 6% before they launched the platform. Since the launch of the platform, it's 13.5%.

They're running on all cylinders, and anything less than an IPO would be a real surprise to me.

[rogerd]

I think any corporate banning is an indication of Facebook's success - that usually happens when network admins see lots of bandwidth being used by sites not obviously business-related.

The next battles will be with sales types who protest the blocking, claiming Facebook is a key networking tool.

[jtara]

I didn't mean to suggest that Facebook is struggling - yet.

But they've turned their back on their core user group in order to attract a broader one. They violated the trust of their users - by significantly weakening the privacy and security of their site - which was a key feature for their users.

I think lawsuits will inevitably result. Do I think that will break Facebook?

No - but I think it's likely that losing sight of what was unique about the site could.