Facebook allows users to stream movies

We’ve got a bit of a theory in the office that Facebook will eventually become the internet, and in the past few days there’s been another step in this direction.

Warner Bros is to become the first Hollywood Studio to allow films to be streamed directly from Facebook.

Where Facebook credits were once used to buy pointless virtual gifts for friends’ birthdays and the like, Warner Bros reckon users will be much more likely to spend real money on Facebook if they can rent or buy movies via fan pages whilst staying fully connected to Facebook.

The first film available to stream through the social networking site is Christopher Nolan’s box office busting “The Dark Knight” which has already attracted over 4million ‘Likes’.

What’s interesting is that movie viewers will still have functionality of their Facebook page whilst they’re watching the film, enabling them to continue to interact with friends and post comments on the movie. This really is media consumption to the max. We’re already used to flicking between computer screens, smart phone screens and TVs, so why not just being them all together on Facebook?

“It’s a bit like going to a night club or a bar that’s empty...you just don’t want to be there.” Dan Wagner

Today’s news that AOL is being forced to sell or shut down social networking site Bebo just goes to show how fickle us digital natives are. Sounding very familiar to last year’s revelation that ITV was selling Friends Reunited for a mere £25million after paying £175million for it less than 4 years previously, it seems that there is only room for one major online community; Facebook.

We can attempt predict the future of the online social media landscape until we are blue in the face, but the truth is, it’s an unpredictable phenomenon which seems to change faster than we can say ‘petition to get the old Facebook back’. I mean, look at the once beloved Myspace. At the risk of sounding older than my 20 years... when I was at school everyone had Myspace, but then came Facebook. Now, the meticulously maintained profiles of my former classmates lie dormant somewhere in cyberspace (along with their Bebo pages).

It seems that there is an almost inevitable pattern emerging when it comes to big companies buying out digital start-ups. This is the opinion of a ‘source close to Bebo’ quoted in today’s Guardian. "You set out with a certain strategy and aim for a certain user experience, and they change it," the source said. "They get rid of staff and cut costs, and it still doesn't work...”

Who knows if Facebook will be replaced by another international online sensation two years down the line, but I think it’s high time we stop placing so much emphasis on the future and focus on the here and now. Now is the time (particularly for PR folks) to harness the sheer power of Facebook in the right ways and also to concentrate on the smaller, niche online communities forming on networks such as LinkedIn and Ning.

What are your thoughts?