F8 is now an annual event, just like Apple’s WWDC & Google I/O

SAN FRANCISCO — Today at Facebook’s f8 developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is entering the big leagues. Along with Apple and Google, it will now host its conference every spring.

Next year’s f8 is March 25 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, a larger venue than the usual Design Concourse.

Traditionally, f8 has taken place whenever the company needed to make big groupings of announcements for both developers and consumers. Now that the event is annual, we’ll get more regular updates from the company on its plans and products — something that developers in the audience were very excited about.

Facebook’s interdependence on third-party developers puts it in the same class as Google and Apple, both of which have built huge businesses (especially in mobile) based on relationships with such entities.

Google holds its I/O conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center every summer, and Apple’s dev-focused WWDC takes place at the same venue, also in the summer.