DIGITAL SANKALP

To keep search relevant, Google aims to bridge gap between apps and web

<div class="stname arttitletxt" style="font-size:1.75em;line-height:28px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;float:left;margin:0px;padding:10px 0px 5px 10px"><br></div><div class="photo" style="padding:10px 0px 10px 10px;font-size:0.75em;font-family:arial;color:rgb(111,111,111);line-height:14px">  <img border="0" src="http://m.timesofindia.com/thumb.cms?msid=33111596&width=283&resizemode=4" style="width: 286px; height: 209px; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); float: left;"><div class="clear" style="clear:both;height:3px">  </div>If Google has its way, soon Android users will be able to search the content stored inside apps using the Google Search app. </div><div class="storycontent_outer" style="font-size:0.91em;line-height:20px;font-family:georgia;margin:0px;padding:1px 5px">  <div class="storycontent" style="font-size:16px;line-height:normal;margin:0px;padding:5px">If Google has its way, soon Android users will be able to search the content stored inside apps using the Google search app. Currently, the search app only hooks into data collected from websites and cannot look inside apps like Wikipedia or Flixter. But Google is working on a feature called "app indexing", which was announced last year in October, to give app makers ability to connect their apps to Google search engine.<br>  <br>If developers choose to use app indexing, relevant search results linked to their apps will appear on the web page of the Google search along with normal web links. If a user clicks on the app link, it will not open in a web browser. Instead, it will open in the relevant app.<br>  <br>"Wouldn't it be cool if you could give your users the choice of viewing your content either on the website or via your app, both straight from Google's search results," Lawrence Chang, a Google product manager asked developers in a blog post. "Today, we're happy to announce a new capability of Google search, called app indexing, that uses the expertise of webmasters to help create a seamless user experience across websites and mobile apps."<br>  <br>In a separate post, Chaesang Jung, a software engineer with Google, explained, "Let's say that a user is searching for a movie. With app indexing, Google will begin to include deep links to apps in Android search results. When the user taps on the 'open in app' deep links, the app opens up directly to the movie in question."<br>  <br>Google has announced that it is already working with several app makers including those who manage AllTheCooks, AllTrails, Beautylish, Etsy, Expedia, Flixster, Healthtap, IMDb, moviefone, newegg, OpenTable, Trulia, and Wikipedia apps. But the company wants more app developers to join the app indexing programme.<br>  <br>Initially, search results based on app indexing will be available to Android users in the US.<br><br>While the app indexing has some obvious benefits for users, it is very important to Google and its future. Google dominates the world of web. It has over 70% share in the worldwide web search market, and consequently gets lion's share in money spent on web advertising. But in the world of mobile, Google is not dominant.<br>  <br>"Apps are like walled gardens. Google's search engine cannot crawl the content stored within an app. The app indexing is a way for Google to stay relevant in the future when most of the users will not search for the best restaurant through a search engine but within an app that lists restaurants and their details," says Rohith Bhat, CEO of Robosoft, one of the leading app developers in India.<br>  <br>While Google, which owns world's most used mobile operating system Android, has done well to gain traction among tablet and phone users, it doesn't have the dominant position that it enjoys on the web and personal computers.<br>  <br>According to a report by Flurry on Tuesday, smartphone and tablet users in the US spend only 14% of their time on the mobile web. The figure last year was 20%. In comparison, 86% time users are inside apps.<br><br>"Both Google and Facebook have very well established franchises on mobile, but the market is still very fragmented. In fact, Google and Facebook combined probably command less than 25% of the total time spent by the average US mobile consumer," noted the Flurry report. "It is still too early to predict the trajectory apps will take in 2014. But one thing is clear - apps have won and the mobile browser is taking a back seat. Now every company in the world including Google is adjusting to that reality."<br>  <br>For Google, consequences of users spending most of their time within apps may turn out to be disastrous. This is one of the reasons why the company has beefed up its Search app on mobile phones to pull in answers that way Siri on iPhone does instead of just showing web links. The company has also introduced Google Now, which shows the "right information at the right time" in a bid to keep the search app relevant. Google has also beefed up Maps, YouTube and Gmail apps.<br>  <br>But for a company with a mission statement that reads "organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", not being able to index stored in apps that majority of people use may result in an existential crisis.<br>  <br>Bhat believes that in terms of technology, app indexing is a sound idea. "Google has good traction with Android and the company will not have much problem attracting app developers for its project. Also, I am sure the API it will offer to developers will be simple to use," he says.<br>  <br>The problem, however, is related to the use cases.<br><br>Bhat says that these are early days for app indexing and in the coming months app developers will surely find some good use of it but currently his company is not thinking of integrating the Google search with its apps. "We haven't really figured out a use case for it so far. We mostly deal in games and utility apps. Developers who are working on apps with interactive content can make better use of app indexing," he says.</div>  </div>

To keep search relevant, Google aims to bridge gap between apps and web

If Google has its way, soon Android users will be able to search the content stored inside apps using the Google Search app. If Googl...

3:34 am

Oracle beats IBM to emerge world's second biggest software company, shares soar

Oracle beats IBM to emerge world's second biggest software company, shares soar

A Gartner report has proclaimed Oracle as the world's second biggest software company, after Microsoft, based on 2013 revenues. ...

3:31 am

Silicon Valley is no country for old men

Silicon Valley is no country for old men

The home of technology has been called the most ageist place in the world. Dr Seth Matarasso is a cosmetic surgeon in San Francisco. W...

3:25 am

Wipro in talks with colleges to launch analytics courses

<div class="stname arttitletxt" style="font-size:1.75em;line-height:28px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;float:left;margin:0px;padding:10px 0px 5px 10px"><br></div><div class="photo" style="padding:10px 0px 10px 10px;font-size:0.75em;font-family:arial;color:rgb(111,111,111);line-height:14px">  <img border="0" src="http://m.timesofindia.com/thumb.cms?msid=33024310&width=283&resizemode=4" style="width: 286px; height: 209px; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); float: left;"><div class="clear" style="clear:both;height:3px">  </div>Wipro Technologies is in talks with several engineering colleges and universities to introduce courses in data analytics.</div><div class="storycontent_outer" style="font-size:0.91em;line-height:20px;font-family:georgia;margin:0px;padding:1px 5px">  <div class="storycontent" style="font-size:16px;line-height:normal;margin:0px;padding:5px">As demand for talent in niche technology areas such as data analytics gets fierce, some software companies are turning to universities and colleges to keep up with the digital revolution. Wipro Technologies, India's third largest software provider, is in talks with several engineering colleges and universities to introduce courses in data analytics as part of their curriculum. <br>  <br>Its goal: to expand analytics talent pool in the country and adapt to the changing business and technology landscape in India's $108-billion information technology industry. "The reality is that Indian companies are scrambling for good talent in areas such as analytics, cloud and mobility," said an industry source with direct knowledge of Wipro's initiative, which is expected to be in the final stages of approval. <br>  <br>Once introduced, the programme will help Wipro introduce tailored courses in topics that are important to its ongoing business and reach out to a wider talent pool at the time of campus placements. <br><br>"It's the first of its kind in the Indian software sector, although students who undertake the programme are under no obligation to work for Wipro," the source added. The initiative is an extension of the company's Wipro Academy of Software Excellence (WASE), where it offers science graduates an opportunity to do a Masters degree from the Birla Institute of Technology in Pilani. <br>  <br>ET couldn't independent verify the names or number of colleges where Wipro will offer courses. The move comes at a time when India's top software outsourcing companies are trying to build expertise in "Smac" - the acronym for social, mobility, analytics and cloud - that is expected to be a major source of their revenue in the coming years. <br>  <br>Partnering with startups to expand expertise As traditional outsourcing services such as application development, maintenance and testing gets commoditised, these companies expect their clients in the US and Europe to step up investments in new technologies, but the dearth of talent worries them. <br>  <br>A 2011 Mckinsey report predicted that IT industry will face a significant shortage of analytics talent, particularly of people with deep expertise in statistics and machine learning. The consulting firm said it expects a 50% to 60% gap between the supply and demand of people with deep analytical talent. Over the past few quarters, software services companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCL Technologies have been partnering with startups and running in-house training programmes to expand their expertise in these technologies. While Wipro recently partnered with Chennai-based startup Orangescape, Noida-based HCL Technologies, India's fourth-largest technology firm, works with several startups. <br>  <br>Technology advisory firm Gartner estimates that the global business intelligence — which includes analytics — market will be $17.1 billion (Rs 1,02,000 crore) by 2016. TCS, India's largest software provider, recently organised a two-day gathering with college deans and principals to speak to them about what the industry wants from academic institutions. <br>  <br>Infosys , HCL Technologies and Mindtree said they do not have such partnerships at the moment, while a Wipro spokeswoman declined to comment. In a note last week, Mumbai-based brokerage firm Kotak said Wipro is working on three large analytics contracts, each with potential to return $50-100 million over 3-5 years. <br>  <br>Wipro gets 7.2% of its nearly $7-billion (Rs 42,000) revenues from analytics practice, the brokerage said. Data analytics company Mu Sigma in 2012 set up the Mu Sigma University that picks fresh engineering, computer science, and science grads from Tier-1 & Tier-2 colleges across India and the US and puts them through a training programme in analytics. "The kind of talent — people with the right skill set, tool set and mindset — that are required to address the challenges businesses face has been hard to find," said a Mu Sigma spokesperson. </div>  </div>

Wipro in talks with colleges to launch analytics courses

Wipro Technologies is in talks with several engineering colleges and universities to introduce courses in data analytics. As demand fo...

1:46 am

Amazon to open bookstore on International Space Station

<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtlY4vWZ0WntJF76OCxbfAWEauuR9ncIQUOVOe-OmmLWsvx8mJqHtFe0SvC6xB3BDbXFXtUorRfr1RrDzLCWJJlhhuQzgmKA6SnKzBg_lRA7qMxxTFgYsymTJ48PSmcAode0UnoxR3q-nC/s1600/iss-700581.jpeg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5997242367457935618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtlY4vWZ0WntJF76OCxbfAWEauuR9ncIQUOVOe-OmmLWsvx8mJqHtFe0SvC6xB3BDbXFXtUorRfr1RrDzLCWJJlhhuQzgmKA6SnKzBg_lRA7qMxxTFgYsymTJ48PSmcAode0UnoxR3q-nC/s320/iss-700581.jpeg" /></a></p><p style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><font color="#35405d"><span style="font-size:20px"><b>A</b></span></font><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-size:26px;line-height:31.75px">mazon is to open a bookstore selling physical books on the International Space Station (ISS).</span></p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">NASA announced the historic agreement in Houston this morning. The shop, which is expected to open in time for the busy summer season on the ISS – when international crews come and go every 50 days – will stock around 2,000 titles in hardback and paperback, curated by Amazon’s buyers working in conjunction with ISS Mission Control in Houston. Its aim is to make the downtime for the crews on the spacecraft more pleasant and provide welcome distraction in one of the ‘world’s’ most isolated of work environments.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">The historic deal is the culmination of a long-held dream of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.  He has been fascinated by space travel for many years and in 2000 established <a href="http://www.blueorigin.com/" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-align:inherit;outline:none medium;line-height:1;color:rgb(255,80,36)">Blue Origin</a>, a “human space flight start-up company”, with the aim of developing “space hotels, amusement parks and colonies for two million or three million people orbiting the Earth”.  The bookshop on the ISS is the first stage of that dream.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">It will be the first time that the company has opened a physical bookstore.  It already has collection lockers in a number of cities and some see the move as a natural, if unexpected extension of that– a locker in the sky, some have dubbed it.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Bezos himself is now in training to make the three-day journey to the ISS where he will perform a space walk for one of the book industry’s most extraordinary ribbon cutting ceremonies.  He once said: “I am awed by the prospect. If you’ll forgive me, this will be one small step for a bookseller; one giant leap for bookselling.”</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">But, inevitably, there are detractors. One agent warned: “Is space an open market?  How do we know publishers have the rights for the territories the International Space Station will be above?” In France publishers were up in arms about pricing.  “I want to know that when the Space Station is over France, there will be no discounting,” said one.  </p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">But Amazon has acted to allay these fears. The bookshop will use a special sensor to detect which territory is below, and a bank of computers will indicate whether a particular publisher has rights or not. Similarly, when the ISS is above France, or any other territory that has fixed prices, all the stock will revert back to full RRP. This will happen every 91 minutes – the time it takes the ISS to orbit the globe.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Bezos plans to host trips to the ISS for editors and there is talk of author tours, with freeze-dried white wine and vacuum-sealed canapés the order of the day.  Interestingly, there will be adjustments to the standard categories in the store.  Thus titles set on earth and normally filed under Fiction will now be Science Fiction, and vice versa. Astronomy will become ‘Local Interest’.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Amazon is opting for physical books because Kindle’s Whispersynch technology is believed to interfere with the ISS’s navigation equipment. “Besides,” Bezos observes, “in space, even a book the size of <em style="border:0px;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-align:inherit">Ulysses</em> doesn’t weigh anything”.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">As high streets go, this will definitely be one of the highest. The ISS orbits the earth at height of around 250 miles and travels at 17,200 mph – these will be the most well-travelled books in history.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">But a spokesperson for the US Indiebound movement of independent booksellers is not impressed.  “Not content with taking over earth, Amazon now wants to take over space as well.” In the UK Waterstones was believed to be readying a response for 2024.</p>  <p style="border:0px;font-size:26px;margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 1em;line-height:31.75px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">However, there is one piece of good news for those battling the online behemoth – at least in space, no one will be able to hear Bezos laugh.</p>

Amazon to open bookstore on International Space Station

A mazon is to open a bookstore selling physical books on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA announced the historic agreement in H...

1:43 am

Google+ profiles and pages updated to display total content views

<h2 style="font-family:Roboto,Arial;margin:0px"><div class="detail-head" style="font-family:'Roboto Condensed';font-size:25px"><br></div></h2><div class="description des-box" id="news_description_container" style="float:left;font-family:'Signika Negative',sans-serif!important;line-height:23px!important">  <div class="story_pic" style="margin-right:3px;margin-bottom:10px;padding-left:1px;text-align:center"><img alt="google_plus_view_counts.jpg" border="0" id="MainContent_FullstoryCtrl_mainstoryimage" src="http://cdn.ndtv.com/tech/images/gadgets/google_plus_view_counts.jpg" style="max-width: 295px; max-height: 200px;"></div>  <div id="MainContent_FullstoryCtrl_fulldetails" class="">Google, in an attempt to bolster the popularity of its Google+ social network, has added a 'total content views' feature to user profiles and pages.<p style="padding:0px 5px">  According to a Google+ post by Eddie Kessler, the new feature will show the sum of page or profile, post and photo views since October 2012. The post <a class="ui-link" href="https://plus.google.com/+EddieKessler/posts/6EKuxzR9zPe" style="outline:none" target="_blank">said</a>, "Ever wonder how many times your shared Google+ content has been seen? Starting today you'll see a new number on your Google+ profile or page: total content views. This number is the sum of your profile, post and photo views since October 2012, and you can choose to show or hide it via settings. Just visit <a href="http://plus.google.com/settings">plus.google.com/settings</a>, scroll down to "Profile," and make your selection."</p>  <p style="padding:0px 5px">However, Google+ users who do not want people to see the total view counts can disable the feature in settings by not selecting the box to the left of "Show how many times your profile and content have been viewed."</p>  <p style="padding:0px 5px">Notably, <a class="ui-link" href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/twitter-testing-display-of-tweet-view-counts-on-ios-app-499443" style="outline:none">Twitter has also been testing a similar feature in its iOS app</a> that allows users to check how many people saw their tweet.</p>  <p style="padding:0px 5px">Of late, <a class="ui-link" href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tags/google" style="outline:none">Google</a> has been on a Google Search update releasing spree. The Mountain View company, soon after rolling out a <a class="ui-link" href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-search-app-for-android-gets-voice-command-for-playing-music-499574" style="outline:none">song recognition feature in the Google Search app</a>for Android, announced another update to the Search app for music fans.</p>  <p style="padding:0px 5px">The <a class="ui-link" href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/tags/google-search" style="outline:none">Google Search</a> app added voice commands for playing music. The voice commands can be activated by saying 'Ok Google'. Earlier, <a class="ui-link" href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-search-app-for-android-gets-quick-voice-commands-for-camera-497926" style="outline:none">Google added voice commands via the Search app for actions</a>like clicking images or taking videos. Prior to this, much like the camera voice-command feature for the Google Search app, the search engine giant added <a class="ui-link" href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-search-for-android-now-supports-relationship-based-voice-commands-482543" style="outline:none">relationship-based voice commands</a> and allowed a user to make calls, send messages, and search using voice commands.</p>  </div></div>

Google+ profiles and pages updated to display total content views

Google, in an attempt to bolster the popularity of its Google+ social network, has added a 'total content views' feature to user...

1:29 am

Doom creator backs Oculus/FB deal

<h1 style="margin:0px 0px 5px;padding:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(0,45,73);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="font-size:13px;line-height:16px"><tbody><tr>  <td align="left" style="color:rgb(0,80,143);font-size:11px"><br></td><td align="right" style="color:rgb(0,80,143);font-size:11px"><img align="left" border="0" src="http://mobi.iafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1862444.JPEG" style="color: rgb(0, 45, 73); font-size: 13px; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" width="150"></td>  </tr></tbody></table></h1><div style="color:rgb(0,45,73);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:16px">John Carmack is still a legend in video game circles, known for his role in the creation of pioneering titles "Wolfenstein 3D," "Doom," and "Quake."<p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">  Now, as CTO for Oculus VR, he says he "wasn't expecting Facebook" but thinks "they get the Big Picture".</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">Having left Id Software in 2013 in order to push boundaries at Oculus, Carmack wrote in response to concerns raised by digital musician Peter Berkman, one quarter of chiptune band Anamanaguchi.</p>  <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">Carmack contrasted the development of virtual reality tech with that of Steam, Valve's digital distribution games platform for Mac, Windows and Linux PCs.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">  "For years, the industry thought Valve was nuts, and they had the field to themselves. Valve deserves all their success for having the vision and perseverance to see it through to the current state," he wrote.</p>  <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">"VR won't be like that. The experience is too obviously powerful, and it makes converts on contact. The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who," Carmack explained, casting the Oculus acquisition as a necessity.</p>  <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">"Honestly, I wasn't expecting Facebook (or this soon). I have zero personal background with them, and I could think of other companies that would have more obvious synergies."</p>  <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">"However, I do have reasons to believe that they get the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen. You don't make a commitment like they just did on a whim."</p>  <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">Berkman's objections were built around three pillars – data-mining virtual reality, the creation of an information monopoly, and the nature of good ideas.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">  He lamented the "most promising VR company being acquired by the world's largest data mining operation".</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">"Cultural evolution is the most important thing in the age of information, good ideas can and should change paradigms," he said, arguing that Oculus is getting "sucked into the old system just as [it] reach[es] potential to break a standard model."</p>  <p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">Carmack, who is also founder of a rocketeering company, later conceded that Oculus's new owner may cause him to reevaluate his own plans.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;padding:0px">  "The FB deal probably will get me to take another swing at aerospace," he tweeted, "but not for several years. I have divided my focus too much in the past," though he didn't say whether that was for financial or ideological reasons.</p>  </div>

Doom creator backs Oculus/FB deal

John Carmack is still a legend in video game circles, known for his role in the creation of pioneering titles "Wolfenstein 3D,...

1:28 am

Nadella 'tunes' Microsoft, announces 3 leadership changes

Nadella 'tunes' Microsoft, announces 3 leadership changes

After taking over from Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella is making changes in the top leadership of Microsoft in a bid to shape the organizat...

1:00 am

Is Facebook Too Big to Care?

<h6 class="byline" style="max-width:200px;margin:0px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:normal"><h1 class="headline" style="font-size:2.2em;margin:4px 0px 6px;line-height:1.2em;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,serif">  <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/images/100000002796271/blogs/bits/2014/03/30/is-facebook-too-big-to-care/?from=technology" style="font-size:10px;line-height:14px;color:rgb(135,156,180)"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/03/30/technology/30bits-fbeat/30bits-fbeat-jumbo.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 288px; height: auto; display: block; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;"></a></h1>  <div id="byline"><span style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-size:1.1em;line-height:1.35em">In a letter posted to Facebook, Eat24 recounted all the reasons why brands are unhappy with the social network.</span></div><div id="byline">  <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:1.6em;line-height:1.4em">Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has always followed his own instincts when making decisions about the company he founded 10 years ago. But several events over the last week make you wonder: Has the company gotten so successful that it doesn’t care what other people think about it?</span><br>  </div></h6><div class="article-body" style="margin-bottom:20px;font-size:1.6em;line-height:1.4em;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Georgia,serif"><p>On Tuesday, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/technology/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-virtual-reality-headset.html" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">Mr. Zuckerberg announced</a> that Facebook would pay more than $2 billion in cash and stock to buy Oculus VR, a start-up that has spent years developing a virtual reality headset that is still far from ready for public release.</p>  <p>According to various published accounts, including <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/03/25/oculus-ceo-describes-rapid-sale-to-facebook/" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">one in the Wall Street Journal</a>, the deal came together quickly. Mr. Zuckerberg decided he wanted to buy the company, and a couple of weeks later, the purchase was announced.</p>  <p>Facebook’s stock fell more than 7 percent as investors and analysts questioned the wisdom of Facebook spending $2 billion in real money to buy a product that will be virtual for another year or more. But Mr. Zuckerberg has voting control over the company, so he can simply ignore Wall Street as he pursues his vision of the company’s future.</p>  <p>Then there was the company’s unsympathetic reaction to Thursday’s announcement by Eat24, an online food ordering service, that it would shut down <a href="https://www.facebook.com/eat24" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">its Facebook page</a> on Monday.</p>  <p>In a long, funny “<a href="http://blog.eat24hours.com/breakup-letter-to-facebook-from-eat24/" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">breakup letter to Facebook</a>,” Eat24 recounted all the reasons that brands are unhappy with Facebook. The biggest complaint: Facebook has changed its algorithms over the last couple of years to highlight more posts by individuals and bury posts from brands — unless, of course, a brand wants to pay for ads to promote its posts.</p>  <p>“Truth be told, your actions make us feel like you don’t respect us. Maybe you think our food-related pick-up lines and sexy tater tots memes come out of nowhere, but we spend a lot of time trying to make people happy,” Eat24 wrote. “What do you do in return? You take them and you hide them from all our friends.”</p>  <p>A Facebook spokesman, Brandon McCormick, posted a response on Eat24’s Facebook page essentially telling the delivery company not to slam the door too hard on the way out.</p><p>“We used to love your jokes about tacquitos and 420 but now they don’t seem so funny,” he wrote. “There is some serious stuff happening in the world and one of my best friends just had a baby and another one just took the best photo of his homemade cupcakes and what we have come to realize is people care about those things more than sushi porn.”</p>  <p>In the long run, the departure of one brand from Facebook is a blip in the feed. Advertisers continue to flock to the service. The research firm eMarketer projects that Facebook will bring in $10.75 billion in digital ad revenue this year, accounting for 7.82 percent of the global market, up from 5.83 percent last year. In the fast-growing mobile arena, Facebook is expected to get 21.7 percent of ad revenue worldwide in 2014, up from 17.5 percent last year, according to eMarketer.</p>  <p>But Eat24’s concerns echo those from other companies, which complain that Facebook keeps changing the rules on how brands can use the service to get their message out. Nate Elliott, a Forrester analyst, <a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/nate_elliott/14-03-17-facebook_is_still_failing_marketers?cmpid=pr:ema:nws:TFP_031714_ElliottBlog" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">wrote this month</a>, “Every day I talk to brands that are disillusioned with Facebook and are now placing their bets on other social sites.”</p>  <p>Facebook says that the changes are meant <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/technology/with-new-app-facebook-aims-to-make-its-users-feeds-newsier.html" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">to give more relevant content</a> to its 1.2 billion users and get them to spend more time on the service.</p>  <p>Maybe Eat24 is trying to hit the top of the news feed the wrong way.</p><p>In the spirit of its rant about Facebook’s problems, I have a suggestion: Instead of posting jokes about bear anatomy and dietary preferences to sell pizzas and burritos, Eat24 could lay out a futuristic strategy to deliver customer orders via unmanned aerial delivery vehicles. (Drones, like cute cats, seem to be one of those topics that are inherently viral.)</p>  <p>Even Mr. Zuckerberg — who just laid out <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/daily-report-facebook-aims-to-use-drones-to-deliver-internet-access/" style="color:rgb(135,156,180)">his own vision</a> for a fleet of laser-wielding, Internet access drones — might hit the like button on that.</p>  </div>

Is Facebook Too Big to Care?

In a letter posted to Facebook, Eat24 recounted all the reasons why brands are unhappy with the social network. Facebook’s chief execu...

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