The Facebook Takeover

The Mark Radio ep.13: With its new, universal "like" button, Facebook is reshaping the web in its own image. And it could profoundly change the way we use the internet.

Facebook is a behemoth.

Since the site was founded in 2004, it has grown from a small, college-only social networking site to the internet's second biggest destination. Now it's on the verge of ousting Google from the top spot.

Facebook now claims 400 million users, who spend a combined 500 billion minutes on the site every month, sharing an average of almost 1 billion pieces of content every day. And it's only getting started.

With the new Open Graph initiative, Facebook is starting to shape the rest of the web in its own image. You may have seen new "like" buttons popping up across sites such as CNN, IMDB, or Pandora, letting users post content directly to their Facebook profiles with one click. The change also lets you see what your Facebook friends "liked" on those sites. Facebook is turning web surfing into a social experience, rather than one that's dictated by algorithms or editors. It could change the nature of how we use the internet.

On this week's episode of The Mark Radio, host Chris Mitchell talks with four experts on the implications of The Facebook Takeover.

First up, Mitch Joel, president of digital marketing firm Twist Image, who talks about why Open Graph could change everything we know about the web.

You'll also hear from Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in ethics, law, and technology, on whether we need to worry about letting Facebook know so much about us.

Finally, professor Doug Mann and visual anthropologist Courtney Lawrence come together for a discussion on how our online habits have changed the ways we interact in the real world.

(Run-time: 29 minutes.)