The last time Facebook hosted its big developer’s conference, the social network introduced Timeline, which became a jarring change for some of the company’s then 750 million members. Nearly three years later, the F8 event scheduled for Wednesday isn’t expected to reveal anything with as dramatic an impact for Facebook’s now 1.28 billion members. But the one-day conference should offer more insight into how Facebook is reshaping itself through mobile advertising and several new stand-alone apps.
After a three-year hiatus, Facebook’s F8 developer conference is back. The social network is hosting its first F8 conference since 2011 on Wednesday. It features a keynote from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg scheduled for 10 a.m PT as the first part of the day-long event. F8 is geared toward Facebook’s developers — those building apps and services that work in conjunction with the social network. Facebook made a commitment to expand on these types of relationships when it bought Parse, a company that helps developers make mobile and web applications, last year. Facebook has set a high bar for both news and entertainment at F8 conferences in past years. In 2011, the last time the company hosted the conference, Facebook unveiled Timeline and Open Graph, but not until after actor Andy Samberg comically impersonated Zuckerberg on stage to kick off the event.