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Facebook farms out 'social graph' to Microsoft and chums

Marketeers like it - users not so much

Facebook rejigged itself again yesterday to become even more ubiquitous on the web in a clear battle cry against Google.

Users immediately complained to CEO Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook’s latest facelift.

“Fk you. You're a piece of sh*t Zuckerberg,” said Facebook user Derek Chan on the first comment posted on the boydroid’s blog about the changes.

Plenty of people waded in to express disappointment at Facebook’s decision to overhaul its platform to put “people at the centre of the web,” while also perhaps making some money for the firm.

Facebook signed up three companies as partners yesterday in its latest Google-whacking adventure, with Microsoft Docs (announced yesterday), Yelp and Pandora all inking deals. Financial details have been kept secret.

Online DVD rental firm Lovefilm.com signed up with Facebook's marketing machine as one of its first partners in Europe today, to help promote its wares.

“If you like a band on Pandora, that information can become part of the graph so that later if you visit a concert site, the site can tell you when the band you like is coming to your area. The power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalised web that gets better with every action taken,” said Zuckerberg.

The Palo-Alto, California-based outfit has placed a big emphasis on its “Like” button in Facebook to help catapult its users’ interests onto websites across the internet, in a move that has the potential to slice into the heart of Google ad territory.

Now all Facebook needs to do is encourage more partners to sign up, or better still, just get Microsoft to buy the company and be done with it. ®

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