After a frenzy of guessing, Facebook's big announcement is this: it is giving users and developers the ability to download their information from the site and create a local copy. The new product is called Download Your Information and is built on top of Facebook's Graph application programming interface.

Any update a user had made - from wall posts, photos, to group memberships to invites - will be included in the compressed ZIP file.   This is new for Facebook, which has never let users create a permanent copy of their information before, presumably because it was afraid they would take the information and migrate to another service. (via Inside Facebook)". Perhaps now the company feels that its market power is significant enough that such a product no longer threatens its dominance and is in the interest of its users," it speculated.

Revamped Groups

Facebook is also giving users the ability to create mini communities for small groups of people. Another application, a new version of Groups, maps out for users their communities, and integrates them across Facebook and applications. The default setting is Closed, which means only members see what's going on in a group.

Welcome Changes

The changes appear to be welcome to individual users. How many will actually try to port data remains to be seen, but, the thinking goes, it's nice to have the option. How much of this will impact brands and their use of Facebook remains to be seen - presumably they can lift their data and customer relationships as well. Companies show little inclination to leave Facebook - not with 500 million users - but they have becoming increasingly disgruntled with the site’s policies that steadily shift power away from the brands (via the Web Strategist blog). This measure could go a long way in appeasing them.