How Facebook TV Will Work

Mark Zuckerberg revolutionized the social space on the Web. Could he do the same with 

television?

The story of Facebook is phenomenal. It all began as little more than an online student directory. But over the years, Facebook evolved into a new way to access the Web. Market research firm Nielsen calculated that collectively, Americans spent more than 53 billion minutes on Facebook in May 2011 [source: CNET]. The amount people can -- and do -- share has grown astronomically since Mark Zuckerberg first unleashed the social platform at Harvard.

The nature of what we share has changed as well. In the early days of Facebook, a person might have shared background information like their home town or favorite movies. But today, people can share links to articles, embed videos or sound files and play games with each other. Today, Facebook is a true applications platform.

Facebook, Media and Privacy

For users, the core purpose of Facebook is to allow you to connect and share with friends online. It's a way to discover stuff that interests you. You may see that a friend with interests similar to your own posts links to articles that you enjoy reading. Or it could be that a friend has an app that automatically updates whenever he or she watches a movie or TV show online.

From a business perspective, Facebook is a gold mine of information about current and potential customers. Imagine that you work for a large company. You want to target potential customers as effectively as possible to convince them to buy your product or service. With Facebook, you can aim at specific demographics. You can even tailor advertising to each demographic -- hitting hard to win new customers and reassuring those who are already loyal. It's invaluable.

Facebook Takes on TV

Facebook could be poised to deliver video content from partnered providers or even venture into content creation on its own.

Market research firm Informa Telecoms & Media held a survey in 2012 about the future of television. In that survey, 20 percent of respondents said that the services with the best position for creating a paid content model are social networks like Facebook. Only 16 percent said that network operators themselves would have an advantage [source: ipTV News].

Why is Facebook in such a good position? Part of it has to do with the way people tend to watch TV. Many people use social networking to post about their choices in entertainment. It's not unusual to find people whipping out a smartphone, tablet or computer to update a status to include comments about the content on television. Perhaps by incorporating this experience directly into social networking, content providers will encourage viewers to tune in on a regular basis.

Author's Note

Facebook is a real powerhouse on the Web. In many ways, Facebook and Google have managed to influence nearly every other Web site online. That both companies are flexing their muscles and expanding into worlds beyond the Web is interesting to me. I'm curious to see how well both can incorporate other forms of media and services into their own models.