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14/02/12/081240 story

How Facebook Helped Change the Tech World

posted by robind on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:07AM   
from the like-this dept.

Maow writes "Wired.com has a 10th anniversary look at some of the innovations that Facebook has led, or at least been at the forefront of.

This is not about how "Likes" and "the Wall" and "Timelines" have changed how users interact with the internet and each other.

This is about open-sourced data centres, and the like:

Behind the scenes, inside the massive data centers that power this worldwide social network, you’ll find all sorts of other technologies that have changed our world in very different ways — and perhaps bigger ways.

Any good techie can appreciate the items listed or at least several of them. They are often over-looked ways that Facebook has contributed; ways that average Facebook users probably have absolutely no clue about; ways that might earn them just a bit of respect from the most die-hard Facebook haters."

• What bothers me the most What bothers me the most (Score: 3, Insightful) by CowboyTeal on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:12AM

  by CowboyTeal (15) on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:12AM (#16)

  What bothers me the most is how they retain all data, even images. If you look at what they did with the lookback video, you'll notice that they use photos that you supposedly deleted. I have 0 photos besides my avatar but yet they published my old pics. I feel very safe to know that they retain everything. :/

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  Getting siggy with it.

  • Re:What bothers me the most Re:What bothers me the most (Score: 0) by mattie_p on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:16AM

    by mattie_p (13) on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:16AM (#19) Journal

    I can't remember the last time I logged into facebook. I didn't even check my wall on my birthday to acknowledge good wishes, shows what a crappy friend I am.

    Parent

    • Re:What bothers me the most (Score: 1) by umafuckitt on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:26AM

      by umafuckitt (20) on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:26AM (#21)

      What's facebook?

      Parent

  • Re:What bothers me the most Re:What bothers me the most (Score: 2, Funny) by amblivous on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:42AM

    by amblivous (19) on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:42AM (#32)

    What is this Facebook thing you refer to? Is that some old protocol like gopher?

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    All generalisations are false.

    Parent

    • Re:What bothers me the most (Score: 1) by umafuckitt on Thursday February 13 2014, @06:04AM

      by umafuckitt (20) on Thursday February 13 2014, @06:04AM (#34)

      Nah, it must be older than gopher.

      Parent

• First! First! (Score: 0, Troll) by LaminatorX on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:12AM

  by LaminatorX (14) <{laminatorx} {at} {gmail.com}> on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:12AM (#17)

  After all these years...

  • Re:First! (Score: 0, Troll) by LaminatorX on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:15AM

    by LaminatorX (14) <{laminatorx} {at} {gmail.com}> on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:15AM (#18)

    ...I still haven't gotten a first post.

    Parent

• You are on Facebook whether you like it or not... You are on Facebook whether you like it or not... (Score: 2, Informative) by Dopefish on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:30AM

  by Dopefish (12) on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:30AM (#25)

  If you think about it, even if you don't have an account on Facebook yourself, the site can still have quite a bit of detail on you, from tagged photos from other real world friends to events created for parties and such. If you ask me, it's very difficult to escape from the influence of social media and the possible abuses to our privacy in this day and age.

  • Re:You are on Facebook whether you like it or not. Re:You are on Facebook whether you like it or not. (Score: 3, Informative) by robind on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:38AM

    by robind (3) on Thursday February 13 2014, @05:38AM (#30)

    I read that Facebook actually creates placeholder pages for people that it thinks exist, based on imported contact lists and names mentioned.

    Parent

    • Re:You are on Facebook whether you like it or not. (Score: 1) by umafuckitt on Thursday February 13 2014, @06:02AM

      by umafuckitt (20) on Thursday February 13 2014, @06:02AM (#33)

      I know someone who would get e-mails from FB telling him that he had been tagged in a picture. At the point he had yet to join.

      Parent

• Poking (Score: 1) by toygeek on Thursday February 13 2014, @08:17PM

  by toygeek (28) on Thursday February 13 2014, @08:17PM (#58) Homepage

  Their greatest advancement. I can now poke endlessly without hurting anyone.

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  There is no Sig. Okay, maybe a short one. http://miscdotgeek.com

• Facebook doesn't excite me (Score: 1) by janrinok on Friday February 14 2014, @09:11PM

  by janrinok (52) on Friday February 14 2014, @09:11PM (#109) Journal

  Perhaps its an age thing - but I cannot understand the excitement about Facebook. It seems strange that people find joy in publicising everything that they do, good or bad, and having it there for all to see. The additional fact the Facebook is saving all the information and that it might reappear at a later date just makes it worse. I gather that some employers actually want the details to your social media accounts when you go for a job interview. They will know what I tell them. Nothing more.

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  I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.