Facebook Home, will you get connected?
With smartphones quickly becoming our number one method of consuming content, it's no surprise that Mark Zuckerberg has jumped on the bandwagon and launched Facebook Home. For those of who wondering what all the fuss is about, I'll try and sum it up.
"We're not building a phone. We're not building an operating system, but we're building something that's a whole lot deeper than just an ordinary app," Zuckerberg said.
Basically, what Facebook have done it very clever, it can't be argued. They are making consumers dependent on Facebook services and are therefore able to display targeted adverts in order to monetize on your new found dependence. Business-wise it all looks bloody good, but will it have enough momentum to cause any sort of changes in the way we use our smartphones?
Lets look at what Home actually is. First and foremost it's just a set of apps, with a launcher as well. It will turn your phone into a Facebook machine, integrating messaging, your news feed and even allowing you to control it with some pretty nice gestures.
The advantages of this are pretty obvious. Statistically, 20% of our smartphone time is spent on Facebook. That figure extends to 25% if we include the Facebook owned company Instagram. So what Facebook Home does is make all your Facebook content easy to see and consume. Home is split into two main sections, Cover Feed and Chat Heads.
Cover Feed is Facebook's way of taking over your lock screen, providing you with a stream of updates, notifications and stories from your news feed. I can see the convenience in this, and it's a nice little gimmick. Unfortunately, the whole concept of Cover Feed assumes that we are using Facebook efficiently. It assumes that we want to know everything that appears in our news feed. I don't know about you, but my news feed is full of photos I can't be bothered to open and people's life stories I don't care about. Yeah they're still my Facebook friend, but I don't really care about what they had in their sandwich, let alone see a photo of it.
So what about Chat Heads? Well, it's a slick messaging app which combines both Facebook messaging and SMS, which in itself is clever. The design is pretty damn sexy as well, with your friends profile pictures hovering at the top of the screen. It may be a well designed application, but I'm pretty sure the novelty will wear off. When it comes to messaging, I don't think we're all that fussy. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
As per usual, I feel I may appear very cynical about Facebook Home, but in fact there are many redeeming qualities. The main quality being gesture control. Ever wanted to use a simple gesture to carry out Facebook functions? Facebook home has just that. Using gestures you can 'like' or 'dislike' and even update your status. Not to mention it will no doubt make it bloody convenient to stay connected with your friends.
The main problems I have is that many of us simply don't care about our Facebook feed to want it constantly in our faces. Sure it's nice to know what my friends are doing, but I'd rather just open that Facebook app than have it plastered over my lock screen.
The second main problem I have is that it's only available for Android and this automatically makes it hard for Facebook Home to succeed. The Google Play Store is littered with various launchers and apps that mean the Home idea is likely to become something that everybody tries, but nobody buys. (Metaphorically speaking, considering it's actually free!)
So, disagree with me? That's cool, post a little comment below, or if you're in a particularly good mood, tell me about how good an article this was? Worth a try.
"We're not building a phone. We're not building an operating system, but we're building something that's a whole lot deeper than just an ordinary app," Zuckerberg said.
Basically, what Facebook have done it very clever, it can't be argued. They are making consumers dependent on Facebook services and are therefore able to display targeted adverts in order to monetize on your new found dependence. Business-wise it all looks bloody good, but will it have enough momentum to cause any sort of changes in the way we use our smartphones?
Lets look at what Home actually is. First and foremost it's just a set of apps, with a launcher as well. It will turn your phone into a Facebook machine, integrating messaging, your news feed and even allowing you to control it with some pretty nice gestures.
The advantages of this are pretty obvious. Statistically, 20% of our smartphone time is spent on Facebook. That figure extends to 25% if we include the Facebook owned company Instagram. So what Facebook Home does is make all your Facebook content easy to see and consume. Home is split into two main sections, Cover Feed and Chat Heads.
Cover Feed is Facebook's way of taking over your lock screen, providing you with a stream of updates, notifications and stories from your news feed. I can see the convenience in this, and it's a nice little gimmick. Unfortunately, the whole concept of Cover Feed assumes that we are using Facebook efficiently. It assumes that we want to know everything that appears in our news feed. I don't know about you, but my news feed is full of photos I can't be bothered to open and people's life stories I don't care about. Yeah they're still my Facebook friend, but I don't really care about what they had in their sandwich, let alone see a photo of it.
So what about Chat Heads? Well, it's a slick messaging app which combines both Facebook messaging and SMS, which in itself is clever. The design is pretty damn sexy as well, with your friends profile pictures hovering at the top of the screen. It may be a well designed application, but I'm pretty sure the novelty will wear off. When it comes to messaging, I don't think we're all that fussy. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
As per usual, I feel I may appear very cynical about Facebook Home, but in fact there are many redeeming qualities. The main quality being gesture control. Ever wanted to use a simple gesture to carry out Facebook functions? Facebook home has just that. Using gestures you can 'like' or 'dislike' and even update your status. Not to mention it will no doubt make it bloody convenient to stay connected with your friends.
The main problems I have is that many of us simply don't care about our Facebook feed to want it constantly in our faces. Sure it's nice to know what my friends are doing, but I'd rather just open that Facebook app than have it plastered over my lock screen.
The second main problem I have is that it's only available for Android and this automatically makes it hard for Facebook Home to succeed. The Google Play Store is littered with various launchers and apps that mean the Home idea is likely to become something that everybody tries, but nobody buys. (Metaphorically speaking, considering it's actually free!)
So, disagree with me? That's cool, post a little comment below, or if you're in a particularly good mood, tell me about how good an article this was? Worth a try.