Wed 28 Apr 2010
The last week has been full of news about Facebook's new moves. Expanded product offerings, rampant privacy violations and the like. The big question is whether Facebook can get away with statements like this:
"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," Zuckerberg said at a technology awards show in January. "That social norm is just something that has evolved." (via The LA Times)
FALSE. Objectively. Some people are comfortable, but many / most are not. The question is, can Facebook dictate that norm to the web by making business-first decisions now, worrying about the consequences after? Increasingly I believe the answer is yes.
I hear many people say that Facebook is destined to go the way of MySpace, and be superseded by the next big thing in social networking. But I don't believe that anymore. There was Lycos and Altavista and the crew, and then Google came along and people thought the next thing would be along soon. Even in the last few years, there were the people who predicted that Bing or Cuil, or Powerset, or Wolfram or whatever would be the next big thing. But no one's stealing Google's market share on search (although Bing is doing ok…). Google has become a standard, and it will be very hard to shake.
Well, I think Facebook is moving towards that same position. Facebook's idea this past week has been to explode its walls. Facebook wants to be the social graph that powers the web. There will still be new, cool sites for users to get involved in, but why re-invent the wheel? Facebook will allow these sites to slice off a part of the Facebook graph for their users and populate it with their own content. All the while, of course, Facebook is keeping track, expanding its own graph, making a mint. Facebook knows things are going this way, and so this week they slapped down their trump card and said "just you try and stop us!"
We've seen a pretty big backlash in internet terms, but nothing strong enough to lead to anything but minor concessions on Facebook's part. The only things that will stop them at this point might be action from Congress or the courts. At least a few folks in Washington seem to be paying attention.
In the meantime, I think the kind of protest, resistance we're seeing is useful and necessary. I'll be interested to see if Facebook really takes notice. I'm guessing no. So for most of us, our real decision is whether to accept a public life with Facebook, or log off for good. As for me, I'm not thinking of logging off yet, but only because I always assume information about me is public and widely shared without my knowledge. I decided long ago not to put anything on Facebook (or elsewhere) that I wouldn't want to share with the world. But that's me. Facebook allows me to manage my privacy the way I'd like by default. But it should do the same for others too, rather than forcing them into potentially dangerous and uncomfortable choices.
Just yesterday I deleted pretty much all of my data from facebook aside from pictures – those I'm still working on. I feel like I've given them enough chances to change tack, and it looks less and less like it's going to happen.
The really annoying part is that in order to survive socially these days, you kind of have to have a FB account. So I do, but until a new company becomes the event planner and discussion space that FB is, nobody can leave.
My issue with Facebook is partly with what they are doing but more with HOW they are doing it. They are sowing confusion among their users, where friends on Facebook are supporting each other by explaining how to opt-out of whatever thing Facebook has done. Facebook is valuable to our social fabric but now we are using them resentfully rather than joyfully. And I think that creates an opportunity. I know there's a entrenchment/stickiness factor, but I'd suggest it's not as strong as we think ("network effects?") and that a better user experience as part of a better attitude might make a difference.
Mind you, TripIt seems to have Dopplr beat, so what the hell do I know.
I think you guys are both right that Facebook has become an unavoidable part of our social fabric.
And maybe that's the interesting test. If a technology is a big part of our lives, and then it gives us the finger, and we grudgingly keep using it, maybe that's a technology that has reached the next level. This isn't the first time Facebook has ignored user concerns about privacy and information control, but we're still there. Google is doing similar stuff, but no one's giving it up. Yet, anyway.
I deactivated. The reason I did was because I only use facebook for status updates (which I can do with Twitter, although now they're all public) and commenting on other's content. So, it wasn't a hard choice for me and I'm just tired of having to figure out what the hell is going on. It's particularly sad as I was just starting to connect with old, valued friends.