The last time Facebook held a conference for app developers was in 2011. That was before the company attracted 1.28 billion users, before it went public, before it began showing mobile advertisements and before it paid eye-popping amounts of money to acquire popular apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.
In the tech world, three years can be a lifetime. Facebook's focus is now squarely on the mobile space, not just its own applications but those built by outside developers.
“As you get older you do gain perspective, and Facebook has,” said David Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect,” a chronicle of the company's early years.
“It's astonishing that a 10-year-old company should be in a position to have as much influence in so many things in society as they do,” he said. “And I think they are starting to take a much more serious approach to the opportunity and responsibility that goes along with their scale.”
As part of its mobile, people-first focus, Facebook says it will let users log in to apps anonymously, without sharing their identities and personal information with mobile applications they don't trust.
