Facebook CTO Bret Taylor says that the company will be focusing on mobile in 2011, specifically when it comes to delivering a consistent user experience across mobile platforms.
At the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco today, Taylor revealed to Inside Network‘s Justin Smith that Facebook will be re-implementing many of its mobile websites and applications so they feel the same, no matter how they’re accessed.
At the moment, Facebook has a ton of different mobile platforms. Not only does it have applications for iPhone, Blackberry and Android, but it also has m.facebook.com (its feature phone site), touch.facebook.com (its touch-based site) and 0.Facebook.com, a lightweight website with no data fees, designed for countries where wireless access is expensive.
With so many different mobile platforms, it’s easy to see why Facebook users can feel overwhelmed when trying to access the site via mobile. Taylor says one of Facebook’s goals in 2011 is to standardize the look and feel of all of these applications and mobile websites. HTML5 will play a critical role in creating a consistent user experience, he said.
Taylor also discussed the health of Facebook Places, its geolocation and geosocial product. “We’re focused on rolling it out to as many people as possible,” Taylor said, adding that Places is, “going really well.” He also said that the company will have some interesting stats to release soon.
At the end of the fireside chat, Facebook’s CTO said that one of the most interesting things to watch this year will be the convergence of mobile and social. “My sense is that mobile devices are inherently social… [mobile devices are] already filled with your contacts and your friends, and they also have access to your location,” he said.
