The Future Of Facebook: Everything Is Social

What does Mark Zuckerberg want Facebook FB to be when it grows up? The answer to that question could be encapsulated in Zuckerberg’s developer philosophy as outlined by Wired – that all apps should be social.

The Facebook co-founder said he sees the future of computing as one consisting of messaging, wearables and virtual reality. These are all areas in which Facebook has invested and that Zuckerberg has said he wanted his company to participate, even if in a minor way.

In another sense, Zuckerberg said he wanted Facebook to move beyond being a stable platform on which developers could depend to house a whole host of apps. Zuckerberg said the move has been away from building apps that work within Facebook, to apps into which users could bring Facebook friends and features.

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Zuckerberg said there are currently 85 of the top 100 apps using Facebook. This, Zuckerberg said, has made Facebook critical infrastructure for people to build their apps.

At the same time, in an obvious nod to concern on the part of users about Facebook sharing too much information, Facebook Connect has started allowing anonymous login on partnered apps.

Another component to Facebook’s future, virtual reality, made manifest through the purchase of Oculus VR, could be one of the most risky and far-reaching parts of the Facebook universe. Initially, Facebook VR would exist as a gaming platform. Eventually, Zuckerberg’s vision called for virtual visits with your doctor or attendance at sporting events.

Of course, virtual interaction with friends and family half a world away would also be a perfect fit for a platform that was, after all, a prime instigator of social media in the first place.

Ultimately, Zuckerberg said virtual reality could “change the way we work, play, and communicate.”

Finally, Zuckerberg said he saw a future in which social networks like Facebook would become much more than communication tools or, in his words, “knowledge tools.”

In expanding that view Zuckerberg told Wired that between five and 10 percent of Facebook posts are people asking other people for advice, such as “Where’s the best place to vacation?” or “Who is a really good plumber?”

If that sounds like a cross between Angie’s List ANGI and Travelzoo TZOO, the point wasn’t lost on Zuckerberg who told Wired that in the future, Facebook components like Graph Search, along with discovery tools like Nearby Friends, could all be used to provide useful answers to questions, not just social interaction.

At the time of this writing, Jim Probasco had no position in any mentioned securities.