Today,
more people spend time on their mobile devices than sitting in front of their
laptops and personal computers. With access to ultra-fast Internet
connectivity, surfing the cyberspace on the go is no longer a luxury. This was
enabled by high caliber services such as the MBaaS capabilities of Facebook’s
Parse.
But
things have changed now.
With
Facebook announcing in January 2016 that Parse will be shutting down for good,
it makes Parse
migration mandatory for developers who are invested into this platform. The
service will be operational for a year and after that all support related to
Parse will cease. However, our take is that Parse migration might actually be a
good news for all stakeholders.
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| Parse Migation |
The Facebook
Strategy
Facebook
has decided that its apps are the way forward. This belief may hold some
weightage considering the recent earnings declaration by the social networking
giant. It appears as though Facebook apps are doing a pretty good job of
aggregating content from across the cyberspace to monetize the site. And, this
is not at all surprising since the social networking platform has access to all
its members’ data and activities.
When
Facebook acquired Parse in 2013 for a whopping $85 million,
this backend as a services was the mainstay of the site until 2015. However,
from then to now, a lot has changed with Facebook’s strategy.
It
is now focusing energetically on Messenger, which it believes will be the chat
app of the future and attain the same heights of success that WeChat has
experienced in China. For some, this particular strategy may sound strange as
Facebook to them is merely a social networking platform.
The Big Change
Facebook
is in the process of metamorphosis. It has shifted focus and reallocated
resources from web-based social networking to its mobile-based messenger app.
And, with this shift in focus, the platform is offering enterprise-friendly
services, like customer communication bots, with the aim to make itself more
appealing and attractive to businesses.
Today,
since more people use mobile and handheld devices than laptops and PCs, they
are opting for apps to interact as well as to read digital content and use
online services. Rather than browsing the web, consumers today prefer reading
social media messages and notifications. Furthermore, using a mobile device to
browse the Internet is more convenient as people can do this on the go.
However, the browsing experience is not optimal. As a result, people just
return to social media where they can conveniently access contextualized web
links that are recommended by friends and well-known brands.
Seizing the
Opportunity
The
moment Facebook acknowledged the change in consumers and users’ web browsing habits,
it decided to shutdown Parse, making Parse app migration a reality. And, we
have to concede that Parse helped app developers build applications that
compete with Facebook and its apps.
Facebook
has tweaked Messenger to make it enterprise-friendly, but whether businesses
will accept and use it as a communication tool is a different ballgame
altogether. Enterprises will have to handover their customer data as well as
personalized user experience to Facebook and its apps.
But
there is good news for app developers. They will be able to seamlessly
distribute their content while getting access to more an a billion users. In
return, developers will lose control over their data and customer experience.
If companies and developers are willing to take this hit then Parse migration
would be a wonderful experience.
The Good News
Those,
who believe that single messaging app from Facebook will be the heart and soul
of Internet activity, are highly mistaken. The digital world is seeing an array
of non-messaging apps, such as those used for on-demand services, retail,
dating, enterprise apps and gaming. However, all these non-messaging apps have
one thing in common. They rely on messaging to create the perfect user
experience, drive user engagement and retain users. Applications which cannot replicate these
features are quickly forgotten and discarded, and new ones take their place.
This
clearly shows that though Facebook is trying to wrest control of Internet
engagement, it may not be that successful. The digital world wants and needs a
plethora of messaging and conversation apps, and by shutting down Parse and
making Parse app migration a necessity, Facebook has done mobile app developers
(and users) a huge favor. Rather than relying on a single company that believes
in pushing content and Internet experience into its own app, developers now are
free to choose other platforms to ensure their users get the experience and
content they want.
For
many app developers, Parse app
migration is a boon. They no longer
have to worry about fencing their users into the world of Facebook. Instead,
they can now create apps for different platforms that allow users to enjoy a
broader Internet experience and also get access to a wider range of content
that was not possible before.
Get
your Parse migration started today with Mobisoft
Infotech. Our tech expertise is what you would need to maintain
business continuity with no downtime during the Parse migration.
