- "Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is not one thing. On desktop where we grew up, the mode that made the most sense was to have a website ... In mobile there’s a big premium on creating single-purpose first-class experiences," says Mark Zuckerberg in an NYT interview, highlighting his company's focus on unbundling its various services on mobile, where screen real estate is limited and each app represents just one home screen icon.
- The remarks follow a TechCrunch report stating Facebook plans to remove messaging from its core app, thereby requiring users who want the feature to download the standalone Messenger app (and potentially triggering a backlash).
- Zuck adds Facebook want to "build a pipeline of experiences" for users, and that his company's Creative Labs unit is "[exploring] things that aren’t all tied to Facebook identity." Those remarks arguably speak to the popularity (particularly among certain demographics) of rival platforms that don't require real names.
- He also suggests he's unfazed by the muted early reception for Graph Search, arguing it's a 5-year project more focused on mobile than PCs (where it launched).
- Interviewer Farhad Manjoo, discussing Zuck's strategy: "When was the last time you swooned over some new feature in Facebook? ... The more users you have, the harder it is to innovate, because most will be averse to any change ... By filtering its innovations into new apps that lack an established user base, engineers and designers can take creative leaps that may not have worked if they’d simply been adding features to Facebook’s primary app."