Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Facebook: Innovator or Antagonist?
My Dad just joined Facebook, and he is currently tracking down family members and reporting the details to my grandmother. Fortunately, I recognized a while ago the dangerous potential ability of Facebook to let skeletons out of the closet. I was in college when the 40 somethings decided to migrate in mass to Facebook. Friends of mine turned paranoid in fear that pictures of their drunken promenade might just reach their parents monitors (or law enforcement).
They were right.
Of course, that was when the user had more control over their identifying data. All they had to do was remove the tag, picture, or album. When Facebook reformatted user metadata under the "Like" function, identifying data was no longer completely in control of the user. Many users have been put off with the recent deals Facebook has made with Yelp, Pandora, Microsoft and others to share their identifying data to enhance an internet experience based on sharing and collaboration. Oh, and to make their advertising partners happy. In a recent blog post Zuckerberg said that
"This flow of social information has profound benefits—from driving better decisions to keeping in touch more easily—and we're really proud that Facebook is part of the shift toward more social and personalized experiences everywhere online."
This sounds a lot like a move to the Semantic Web that we have been hearing so much about (often referred to as Web 3.0). And I have to admit that this has wonderful potential for online marketing. Think of all of the consumer data that the "Like" function will bring. It would be a nice addition to the "pay-per-click" data. I think users would be more likely to "Like" something rather than click on add that pops up in their tweet or some viral, kitten video.
But is the consumer/user ready for Sir Tim-Berners Lee's Web 3.0? There has been a lot of backlash about Facebook's new plan. Two consecutive posts on Wired's Epicenter showed the frustration.
Post 1: Only Old Fogies Hate the New Facebook by Ryan Singel speaks about recent data that Facebook users, 35 years and up (not really old fogies after all) have responded negatively to news that Facebook revised its Privacy Policy. This is not good considering for the past two years this age groups makes up the fastest growing demographic on Facebook.
Post 2: NYU Students Aim to Invent Facebook (Again). We’ve Got Your Back. by John C Abell cites the attempts of a bunch of NYU students who want to create an old-school (as in 2004) alternative to the current Facebook. They just want social networking to be social networking again where the only thing you have to worry about is your Mom seeing all the things did last Friday in a well document album entitled "All the things I probably should not have done last Friday!" This article seems to capture the angst from the younger side of that demographic. The ones that Facebook has counted on to maintain its power.
Web 2.0 is about the user conforming the web to meet their needs. Web 3.0 is about the web doing that on its own. That is only going to happen with initiatives like Facebook to share Market relevant data. Amazon does this to a small extent within the bounds of its own servers by selecting products that users might like based on their purchasing history. Facebook isn't inventing the wheel; there just finally bringing it to the masses.
These discussions are also coming in the middle of the Data Wars. In the 70s and 80s it was the hardware wars. In the 90s that battle shifted to software. Since Web 2.0, that war is over where users will store their data, where will they network, where will they make purchases, etc. Facebook wants to be the Virtual Mall of America, as does Google. And Microsoft just wants to get a piece of the pie while maybe throwing a few jabs at Google and Apple along the way. Users love how these tools help them coalesce, shop, analyze, educate, or just vent. There might not have been a Revolution (2009) in Iran without Facebook and Twitter. Ok Go would not be selling songs without YouTube. But consumers/users are put off by big companies that war over market share because it exposes the companies' inner desire to serve their shareholders and not the user. That being said, these companies are not going anywhere.
But that nasty long tail keeps whipping the head of big business. Those NYU students might create another niche in the market with small, personalized, topicized social networking sites. Ning would not be where the are today without a demand for these sites.
The Semantic Web, or some version of it, is coming whether users like it or not. It is already coming to Facebook. What will probably happen? Users will continued to use Facebook for certain things and move on to newer, more gated, social applications for other needs. It is the nature of Web 2.0 and 3.0 to rise to user demand.
They were right.
Of course, that was when the user had more control over their identifying data. All they had to do was remove the tag, picture, or album. When Facebook reformatted user metadata under the "Like" function, identifying data was no longer completely in control of the user. Many users have been put off with the recent deals Facebook has made with Yelp, Pandora, Microsoft and others to share their identifying data to enhance an internet experience based on sharing and collaboration. Oh, and to make their advertising partners happy. In a recent blog post Zuckerberg said that
"This flow of social information has profound benefits—from driving better decisions to keeping in touch more easily—and we're really proud that Facebook is part of the shift toward more social and personalized experiences everywhere online."
This sounds a lot like a move to the Semantic Web that we have been hearing so much about (often referred to as Web 3.0). And I have to admit that this has wonderful potential for online marketing. Think of all of the consumer data that the "Like" function will bring. It would be a nice addition to the "pay-per-click" data. I think users would be more likely to "Like" something rather than click on add that pops up in their tweet or some viral, kitten video.
But is the consumer/user ready for Sir Tim-Berners Lee's Web 3.0? There has been a lot of backlash about Facebook's new plan. Two consecutive posts on Wired's Epicenter showed the frustration.
Post 1: Only Old Fogies Hate the New Facebook by Ryan Singel speaks about recent data that Facebook users, 35 years and up (not really old fogies after all) have responded negatively to news that Facebook revised its Privacy Policy. This is not good considering for the past two years this age groups makes up the fastest growing demographic on Facebook.
Post 2: NYU Students Aim to Invent Facebook (Again). We’ve Got Your Back. by John C Abell cites the attempts of a bunch of NYU students who want to create an old-school (as in 2004) alternative to the current Facebook. They just want social networking to be social networking again where the only thing you have to worry about is your Mom seeing all the things did last Friday in a well document album entitled "All the things I probably should not have done last Friday!" This article seems to capture the angst from the younger side of that demographic. The ones that Facebook has counted on to maintain its power.
Web 2.0 is about the user conforming the web to meet their needs. Web 3.0 is about the web doing that on its own. That is only going to happen with initiatives like Facebook to share Market relevant data. Amazon does this to a small extent within the bounds of its own servers by selecting products that users might like based on their purchasing history. Facebook isn't inventing the wheel; there just finally bringing it to the masses.
These discussions are also coming in the middle of the Data Wars. In the 70s and 80s it was the hardware wars. In the 90s that battle shifted to software. Since Web 2.0, that war is over where users will store their data, where will they network, where will they make purchases, etc. Facebook wants to be the Virtual Mall of America, as does Google. And Microsoft just wants to get a piece of the pie while maybe throwing a few jabs at Google and Apple along the way. Users love how these tools help them coalesce, shop, analyze, educate, or just vent. There might not have been a Revolution (2009) in Iran without Facebook and Twitter. Ok Go would not be selling songs without YouTube. But consumers/users are put off by big companies that war over market share because it exposes the companies' inner desire to serve their shareholders and not the user. That being said, these companies are not going anywhere.
But that nasty long tail keeps whipping the head of big business. Those NYU students might create another niche in the market with small, personalized, topicized social networking sites. Ning would not be where the are today without a demand for these sites.
The Semantic Web, or some version of it, is coming whether users like it or not. It is already coming to Facebook. What will probably happen? Users will continued to use Facebook for certain things and move on to newer, more gated, social applications for other needs. It is the nature of Web 2.0 and 3.0 to rise to user demand.
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