Facebook Charges into the TV Arena
- Interesting piece on the overtures that Facebook are currently making to various players in the TV industry. Contrasting their approach with the 'ham-fisted' sales pitch delivered by Google for their GoogleTV project, this article goes on to explain how Facebook is pitching to be the default login service for broadcast and cable TV, as well as IPTV and next-gen video services. But of course the TV industry is a large and powerful body, and might not look favorably on the prospect of another internet company trying to encroach on their (valuable) turf.
- Confirming what Internet Explorer and Google Search product managers have known all along, this article highlights research that shows how sticky being the default option can be. If a user has to opt out of using IE on Windows machines, or using Google as the search engine on their iPhone's Safari browser bar, the chances of them doing so are slim. The stickiness of being the default option is another reason why Facebook wants the TV industry to use Facebook IDs as a universal login mechanism (see above).
- This one falls into the why-didn't-I-think-of-that category. If bit.ly is the default URL shortener of the web, that means that they have a pretty good idea of what sites/pages/topics are popular. If they can use this view of past popularity to predict future popularity, that's a pretty powerful proposition (no alliteration intended).
- This one falls into the I-don't-buy-it category. Apparently, Australian newspapers have four of the top ten newspaper apps on the iPad. For a country with a population of little over 20 million people to have even one app in the top ten would be impressive. But four I find hard to believe.
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