If you had asked anyone earlier today what Facebook was, on the macro scale, the word “platform” would likely come into the discussion. When you look at what the social behemoth has done over the past few years, there’s no doubt that becoming a platform for connecting the world was firmly its goal.
But according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it’s not so much about building a platform anymore. It is, in fact, about building a “partnership company”.
In an interview, to be aired tonight, with Charlie Rose, Zuck talks about Google, Apple, Amazon and the rest of the Silicon Valley giants, saying that they build products primarily. Not saying that Facebook doesn’t, but rather to offer clarification, Zuck says that Facebook wants to “help rethink the way that people listen to music or watch movies. We build a platform on top of which people connect.”
It’s not surprising, then, that Zuckerberg scoffs at the idea that Silicon Valley is going to enter a war.
“I mean, people like to talk about war. You know, there are a lot of ways in which the companies actually work together. There are real competitions in there. But I don’t think that this is going to be the type of situation where one company wins all the stuff.”
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COO Sheryl Sandberg takes a moment to address the same subject, talking about how Facebook doesn’t have borders. “We want everything to be social, and we prefer everything to be social with Facebook. So for us, our goal is really to work across. We want to work on every tablet.”
“There’s one thing that I think is most important to Facebook, which is that we are focused on doing one thing incredibly well. We only really want to do one thing – Connect the world.”
It’s that desire for connection that explains, at least in part, Facebook’s push to sign on music services, movie services and more. The ultimate question is whether not only its users will continue to embrace the changes, but will the powers behind the media grow to accept them as well?
The Zuckerberg interview with Rose will air this evening on PBS, and will be rebroadcast on Tuesday on Bloomberg TV.
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