Facebook Is The Internet.
Is it really already May? As in, 30 days from now we’ll be half-way through 2010? Time sure flies, doesn’t it?
I mean, it seems like just yesterday that it was 2004. Especially if your name is Mark Zuckerberg and you were starting a little website for your college buddies called facebook. (Actually, in his case he was stealing the idea of facebook, which he has since paid more than $65m for…) But we all know how this story ends, right? Everyone on the planet signed up and we all lived happily ever Farmville after.
Until last week.
On April 21st at the annual facebook conference F8, the company announced the release of “Like” buttons, which you have probably now seen strewn about some of your favorite sites. They predicted and surpassed 1,000,000,000 button “impressions” in the first 24 hours. So what the heck is it?
It’s this:
Go ahead! Click it! I dare you!
“Like” buttons basically do two things. They make it easy for you to share links with your facebook friends and it lets you know which of your friends liked the same thing. Simple!
But in reality, it’s not so simple after all. (You didn’t actually click the button above, did you? Oh gosh, I was totally kidding when I suggested it.)
What’s happening today is that facebook is extending not only its functionality into any website that wants to install the tools (like this one), but its awareness of where people are on the web. And in so-doing, will be collecting information about you in order to serve you more “targeted” advertisements throughout the network.
Sound creepy? It is. But you’ll be even more creeped-out to learn that Google and many other ad networks have been doing the same thing to you for years now.
So what’s the big deal? Well, if you’re committed enough to still be reading this post, I’ll tell you. Facebook is becoming the web. Everything we do can be tracked back and shared through our profiles. For some reason, we humans love to share everything we love. (Although I’m still waiting for the “don’t like” button.) And that’s a trend that’s here to stay. No matter how you feel about the policy, any site operator should be aware of this new tool and the others mentioned at f8, to give yourself the best chance at finding new visitors through the ones you’ve already got. And if you’re just a concerned facebook user that doesn’t want to be tracked and/or “targeted,” click here to turn off Big Brother’s watchful eye.
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I think it’s CRAZY when people go on and on about “I want my privacy” back and “Facebook sucks because I don’t have any privacy anymore”…. um, yah, privacy went away when Search Engines were created. Just google your own name. You are right, FB is the internet and isn’t it the 2nd largest search engine behind Google now? Great blog. Because I am HUMAN, I am going to share this blog, too.
I’m predicting a year from now you will have to reneg on this and the Newsweek and Wired cover stories will be “How Facebook Blew It.”
While its not completely inevitable at this moment, they pushed entirely too far this time around and the negative publicity machine continues to escalate. If it continues at this rate, the movie this Sepetember will be the icing on the cake. If you haven’t read “The Accidental Billionaire” yet, I highly encourage it. Its a damning book (and the movie will follow suit from everything I’ve read).
You may be right! I wrote this JUST before the *latest* privacy debacle unfolded. I am not such a facebook fanboi that I would call them invincible – after all, who would have predicted the fall of MySpace in 2006? – but I will say that there will have to be a compelling alternative for people to find and communicate with each other en-mass. THAT is going to be a very difficult challenge for anyone. And no, MySpace won’t get them back.
I see this as such a similar phenomenon as what happened with Microsoft through the 80′s and 90′s. Everybody loved to hate them, including entire nations, but no one could do anything about it. Now, we have more options, which is good for everyone, and yet, Microsoft remains a powerhouse in business and personal computing.
It will indeed be very interesting to see where facebook is this time 5 years from now, but one thing is for sure – they are going to need to expand the user interface to allow people to develop more compelling content within the network or it will remain nothing more than another status update tool that has very limited value, relative to what it could have been.
Your comparison to Microsoft certainly has merit as does your advice for what they need to be.
I think what’s particularly interesting (and damning) about their latest grievance is that they broke their fundamental covenant with users “We are a place for your private information and communications.” This boils down to a poorly executed TOTAL shift from their original function and promise.
You’re also right about the quality replacement, and if I had some time and coding knowledge, I’d be following in the footsteps of (or pledge to work with) the guys on the Diaspora project.