Facebook is gearing up for a serious update according to rumours flying around Silicon Valley. The reason for its major overhaul? Google Me. Despite no official confirmation of the rumoured Google social network, Facebook head honcho Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly declared a “lockdown” – getting engineers in on the weekend and, curiously, sticking a neon sign on his office door…
Battle lines are clearly being drawn between Facebook and Google over gaming with Google’s Zynga deal and Google virtual currency plans that could rival Facebook credits as well as whispers of the Google Me social network. It’s not surprising that Zuckerberg might want Facebook to up its game to counteract the threat.
A “lockdown” is an Facebook tradition that meant no one could leave until the task in hand was finished. Presumably now Facebook is a major company rather than a struggling start up that doesn’t still mean Zuckerberg slamming his fist on the table and stopping people going out for takeout as report in the recent book, The Facebook Effect.
The rumoured “lockdown” at Facebook will apparently last for 60 days and is focused on improvements the to Facebook Photos, Groups and Events features. Zuckerberg has allegedly hung a glowing “LOCKDOWN” sign on his office door for the duration. We hope that bit’s true. It’d be up there with the Steve Jobs top hat.
If the two month lockdown is in effect, Facebook engineers will be finished just in time to see Zuckerberg on The Simpsons and sneak out to watch the Facebook movie, The Social Network.
Facebook responded to the rumours of the lockdown with a standard “we don’t comment on rumours”-style statement. But if it is scrabbling to introduce improvements to the social network, what changes would you like to see? We’re sure some of those lockdown Facebook engineers will heed you words if you sling them in the comments.
Out now | £free | Facebook (via Valleywag)
