Outgrowing the Walled Garden

Since its launch, Facebook has been on a steady march for the open web. Following the company’s history you can see some of the subtle signs. First it was a move away from college exclusivity and most recently it adopted hashtags to make content searchable. Last week Facebook took its efforts to make data public further by announcing the ability for users to embed posts in other parts of the web. Similar to Youtube, Twitter, and other open social networks, Facebook is now beginning to live outside of its “walled garden.”

This maneuver will increase the network’s ability to seep into other aspects of our lives. At first the thought of this occurring seems like a dramatic departure from the networks roots but taking a step back it’s actually part of a trend already occurring without Facebook intervening. Think about it. Today posts are already shared by media and people outside of the network’s ecosystem. From text conversations to screenshots appearing on various parts of the web, Facebook is becoming present even when you’re not logged in.  To increase the potential of this trend growing Facebook is merely providing brands and users with the ability to take their content and place it wherever they want on the web.

Now in a new era of social media we are beginning to see a shift towards open environments focused on sharing content universally with the web, not just a closed group of friends. Slow to the public stage Facebook is finally pulling itself onto the open web, dragging its reluctant user base with it.

[Photo Courtesy of Snlsn]