Yesterday, I watched the F8 livestreamed from Facebook and I can say that all the fuzz and buzz was well justified.

I only can say that Facebook and to a lesser extent, Twitter are going to eat the Internet. As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg put it, “we’re moving towards a web that is social by default”, meaning that we’re moving towards a web that is Facebook by default.

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook is going to work on based on using the Open graph, which Zuckerberg calls “personally, and semantically, a set of meaningful connections between people and things,” and social plugins. With these plugins (the most famous being the Like button) you will be able to see what friends have liked or commented on in any article on any site you visit. Also, if you are on Facebook, you will be able to see what off-facebook articles people are reading and commenting on. This is such a turn-on for publishers that I can predict a massively growing trend of magazines, papers and blogs adopting the plugins in the next months. And what if you are a brand? Well, it’s going to be pretty hard to argue that you don’t need to blog about your product, isn’t it?

Likewise,Twitter have released a few apps that allow you to follow tweeps and tweet from any website that installs @anywhere. They want you to see all content online through “Twitter eyes” and make Twitter the epicentre of news diffusion and virality. Let’s see how it goes.

With these new apps both Facebook and Twitter have strung a lot of chords with publishers, since they have shown how users are far more likely to trust a source that friends have approved first. Bret Taylor, ex-CEO of Friendfeed has come up with the Magic Number 5 concept, which shows a dramatic increase of interactivity once you see 5 of your friends engaged onto a site. Having a few trustworthy faces associated with your content using these social plugins will only skyrocket your interactivity and engagement level, so don’t miss out on this.

With a late evening conversation with an SML colleague two sobering questions popped. Are we going to lose our leaders? Will everyone only read and engage with what other people have previously?

In my opinion this social proof and tipping point has always existed. One sees movies that other friends watch, read books that someone has recommended. It’s the spirit of WOM gone mad. Some people are quality leaders and rarely rely on people because they are ahead of the game. These people will always exist. Also, we have to bear in mind that there are areas in which we’re experts and others where we’re novice. Such is life. And now the web is more like life.

The other question is good quality content will find it easier to spread, won’t it? Definitely.

One can argue that Page Rank is the human interpretation made maths formula. The more links to your page, the more prominent your pages will be. However, not everyone owns a site. And also, links can be bought, they can swapped for favours. Add to this all the canonical URLs and keyword strategy and you get a whole lot of obscure science. SEO. And SEO is doomed if, like in a democracy, all votes count the same.

Things will spread based only on how many people like it, all people equally counted. Good content will spread based on its content and engagement levels.

So… are you ready to engage?

About The Author

Xavi Izaguirre

Xavier Izaguirre joined Social Media Library in November 2009 working as part of the Research Team. Prior to joining Social Media Library, Xavier completed a Masters Degree in Marketing and Communications at Westminster University, London. An active user of Social Media platforms, Xavier is very passionate about new trends in communication and Social Media Marketing contributing towards a number of online campaigns within the Educational Sector.

Follow Xavier on Twitter at @Xavi_izaguirre