The Facebook Operating System: The New Yorker profile of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg is mostly getting attention for her take on the role of woman in Silicon Valley. (Sandberg thinks women need to be more assertive to get ahead.) Another reason worth reading the profile, which doesn’t contain much news, is for its a succinct explanation of why Google is so freaked out by Facebook. Facebook executive Chris Cox imagines a day when people turn on their TVs and are greeted by a notification that 19 friends liked Entourage that week and that three are watching it now. That, in a nutshell, is Facebook’s promise. Where Google would see a mess of information — like the slew of programs on TV at any given time — and rely on computer algorithms to figure out the best match for individuals, Facebook wants to do the same with people power. As detailed by writer Ken Auletta, the bad blood between the two Silicon Valley giants continues to boil as they fight for the pole position as the operating system of the Internet. New Yorker
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