Once upon a time Facebook used to give its employees iPhones. But now suddenly it wants them to switch to Android. A TechCrunch report noted that a number of ‘vaguely propagandistic’ posters had appeared around the Facebook campus, asking them to switch.
This comes in the wake of a similar report by CNet all the way back in August which said, “Facebook employees were being “nudged, cajoled, and even ordered to give up their iPhones for Android devices”.
But what’s up with that? Is the company losing money after its disastrous IPO? Is there some sort of shady deal with Google afoot?
Nothing so dramatic it seems.
The company merely wants more people using Android phones so that more employees are using, and therefore testing, the Facebook app for the OS. This is a technique known as ‘dog-fooding’ in which employees are encouraged to use their own products.
TechCrunch notes, “If the social network wants to give Android users the best experience, it needs a fair portion of the company testing its Android apps and brainstorming what could be done next with the operating system’s flexibility.”
