Facebook wants to be your…. homepage?

Facebook is apparently starting a push to get users to make it their default homepage. In fact, that’s exactly what they are doing with a new “Make Facebook Home” button that is beginning to appear on the top of user’s profiles.

Users logging in may be prompted by several pictures of their friends and a customized sentence reading, “See what’s happening with Stephanie, Kim and the rest of your friends the moment you open your browser.” At the end of the sentence is a large blue button that reads “Make Facebook Home.” Upon clicking (which I didn’t want to do) the user has a choice of either making the page their homepage or adding to their homepage tabs.

One can’t help but wonder if this is an attempt to compete with Google and its seeming dominance as a homepage. While Facebook users may be spending more and more time on the service, I can’t imagine people seeing it as beneficial as Google and it’s powerful search capabilities.

We’ve asked Facebook how widely the new feature is being rolled out and when we get a response we will let you know. The company is probably testing the service now to see the adoption rate and whether people see Facebook as a homepage. My bet, is that they click “cancel.”

http://twitter.com/whyisthere Steve Holt

It is stuff like this that makes me wish I could find an alternative to FB.
http://williamsguitarblog.blogspot.com/ William Bajzek

I click “Cancel” and it comes back next time.I click “Done” and it comes back next time.The only thing I haven't done is actually make Facebook my homepage.
http://twitter.com/JMaytum Julian Maytum

How the hell do you get rid of it? I hit done it takes me to my home page (currently a custom google page). You hit cancel it goes away and comes back the next time you go to the page. Annoying isn't the word for it. Do these people at facebook never learn??
http://ucentric.org ϋCentric

This is really jack-booting their way into your entire online life without so much as a beg-your-pardon.Zuckerbeg's megalomania is getting serious out of control.
http://www.google.com/profiles/jmwiv4 JMW IV

Shame nobody is willing to give Google Buzz a shot again. I mean damn, they fixed all the privacy issues everyone was whining about.
http://twitter.com/ros_jo Jordan

Google Buzz sucks! I just set it to post all my tweets and then I stay away from it!
http://www.google.com/profiles/jmwiv4 JMW IV

Yeah sure it “sucks” when you don't actually use it.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.
http://www.pointsincase.com Court

“While Facebook users may be spending more and more time on the service, I can’t imagine people seeing it as beneficial as Google and it’s powerful search capabilities.” CAN'T IMAGINE?? Where do they find these cavemen tech bloggers? I would say you have no imagination, Cody, but that's putting it lightly. You can already Google things from your browser bar on IE, Firefox and Chrome. To say that Google is slowly being replaced as a homepage is old news. To say that “One can’t help but wonder if this is an attempt to compete with Google and its seeming dominance as a homepage” is somewhat patronizing.
http://gardeningcourses.info/facebook-vies-to-become-your-homepage-and-why-thats-a-big-deal/ Facebook Vies To Become Your Homepage – And Why That’s A Big Deal

[...] their entry point to the Web, the very first thing they’ll see when they open their browser. Venturebeat noticed that Facebook started prompting visitors to set the site as their homepage before the [...]
http://www.ipowall.com/dburl-9438/ Facebook想成为你的主页，靠谱吗？ | IPOWall科技

[...] 对网站来说有一招屡试不爽：让人们把你的网站设为主页。这样你的网站就成了他们的上网入口，打开浏览器第一眼就可以看到你的网站。Venturebeat发现Facebook上周末开始在Facebook首页弹出一些好友信息和图片，提醒用户把Facebook设为主页。也有用户发现了不同的提醒方式，如底部图片所示。 [...]