It seems to be the big question of the internet at the moment doesn't it... is facebook worth that much, or really anything?
Firstly I think anytime there is a whole bunch of people communicating you should never ask yourself what the point is. Communication is a fundamental, it is the reason.
Second there's the big draw cards of social networks - an easy lightweight way to connect and reconnect. Its a great big people directory - and connections are very low social risk - much easier than emailing that person you haven't seen in years. And how are you going to get their email address anyway, any public directory would be spam central.
Of course myspace or any site has that much going for it. So that leaves the final facebook draw card - facebook apps. I totally understand the skepticism, but apps offer lots of different shared activities. Lots of little quizzes and games, very much like the kind of structured getting-to-know-you party game type activities. Its actually very difficult for these kinds of applications to exist without incorporating the friend networks that facebook offers.
Its a platform that allows a kind of lightweight, asynchronous and with easy opt-outs and opt-ins, shared online experience. I think it actually threatens to become the internet for a lot of people.
The rub is that people keep comparing facebook to Google, without seeming to have any idea how it'll get that far beyond a vague notion of connecting people. The only person I know who doesn't use Google search is my grandma, who doesn't use a computer. In contrast, not even half the people I know my age use facebook, and essentially no one older than me uses it or seems at all likely to ever bother.
Its a platform that allows a kind of lightweight, asynchronous and with easy opt-outs and opt-ins, shared online experience. I think it actually threatens to become the internet for a lot of people.
It's not there yet, though. The login requirement is a barrier. The interface is still pretty complicated and it's not much faster(if it's faster at all) than its competitors. There's still nothing so compelling that people can't break a Facebook habit if they want to.
Facebook has a lot of potential, and of course millions of users count for something, but it's not a Google and really doesn't seem to be headed that way.
Facebook sucks in a lot of ways. I'm not a fan, in fact I'd actually quite enjoy seeing Zuckerberg crushed. There is just very little else online that facilitates shared experience.
Myspace has zero interest or ability to push itself further. Google hasn't really thrown its full weight behind orkut, not least because they have a much better money maker they need to protect. So the next generation facebook killer will probably have to be a startup - which means they have to be significantly better to attract users and reach a critical mass.
Orkut is quite possibly the worst name for a social network that I've heard. I have no idea why it was chosen, or what significance it has, but it's definitely not an advantage. Nobody I know would hear Orkut for the first time and think either "Social Network" or "Google." (In contrast to, say, "gmail," which immediately evokes email and google).
One way Facebook can be very useful is by providing trust and accountability for distributed/social applications.
For example, if everyone did email through facebook, then you could restrict incoming email to within 6 degrees of your friends. If spam starts being sent because of one of your friends, you have incentive to cut off that friendship before you get cut off from your social network.
Like that article awhile back talked about, Facebook is another step in automating the way we build trust. And trust is the bedrock of a cohesive and effective society.
Firstly I think anytime there is a whole bunch of people communicating you should never ask yourself what the point is. Communication is a fundamental, it is the reason.
Second there's the big draw cards of social networks - an easy lightweight way to connect and reconnect. Its a great big people directory - and connections are very low social risk - much easier than emailing that person you haven't seen in years. And how are you going to get their email address anyway, any public directory would be spam central.
Of course myspace or any site has that much going for it. So that leaves the final facebook draw card - facebook apps. I totally understand the skepticism, but apps offer lots of different shared activities. Lots of little quizzes and games, very much like the kind of structured getting-to-know-you party game type activities. Its actually very difficult for these kinds of applications to exist without incorporating the friend networks that facebook offers.
Its a platform that allows a kind of lightweight, asynchronous and with easy opt-outs and opt-ins, shared online experience. I think it actually threatens to become the internet for a lot of people.