What started as what I think was an honest post; contrary to Rex Hammock who thinks it was more calculated or Fred Wilson a VC with a vested interest in anything Web 2.0 who calls the post linkbait, Jason Calacanis declared Facebook bankruptcy.
The exchange that followed this original post though is far more indicative of the bubble that Web 2.0 has created. It shows that while Web 2.0 professes openness people will climb into a walled garden as long as it has the presumption of being cool.
And leading the charge into this month’s coolness is our own Robert Scoble who is likening the networking within Facebook to his rolodex of the 70’s and 80’s. For him Facebook is the new business card and the new media distribution network that is being driven by the “best names in tech“. I wonder though if these are the same cool folks that he said in a comment to one of my posts that had moved to Pownce because it was cool.
I still remember when Twitter was the cool place to be for Robert but then that changed to Pownce and now it is Facebook - what will it be next month. After all Web 2.0 is all about coming out with the next best cool thing. First it was MySpace then Twitter lit up SXSW and became the darling to be followed by Rose’s Pownce.
The thing that gets me about this whole thing is that while at Microsoft Robert was all about espousing openness but now he is chiding Jason because he wants to step back an re-evaluate the benefits of being kept behind a proprietary wall. While Jason questions the time investment required to play with the cool people and whether things like Facebook are really the end all be all we have Robert signing the praises of a closed system where he can do everything within its ecosystem.
Where Twitter; and even Pownce, gave us an open social network that was simple to use Facebook wants to re-write the web in its own language. For developers who truly believe in an open web this presents what should be a quandary of ethics. Forsake the values of an open web and climb on the Facebook API or stand apart and not be a part of the cool crowd. Do we really need another Microsoft of the web?
I agree with Rex when he writes:
But, as I?ve said before, unless we?re all willing to give up everything else we love about the nature of the Internet, then Facebook is not the golden fleece (or holy grail ? but since this conversation was started by someone named Jason, I thought I?d head in the direction of that metaphor). Frankly, Facebook is not even close to being what will ultimately be that thing which alters fundamentally the way in which we relate and communicate. It may show us the way, but there are some important factors related to personal identity and social interaction that Facebook - or any platform that requires us to create community that is locked inside a wall - will not be able to overcome if it is to become the next be-all, end-all.
Facebook is a fad - a Web 2.0 walled garden - being glamorized by people like Robert but as with all fads it will be replaced by something newer and cooler; and chances are Robert will be leading the charge with the newest flavor of kool-aid. Then what will your time investment in things like Facebook be worth?
Conversation Tags: Facebook, fads, Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble, Rex Hammock, Fred Wilson, walled garden
10 Comments
I never said I gave up on twitter. Please get your facts right. I use twitter all the time. It does not compete with Facebook.
You are wrong about facebook being a fad. Just like all the people who said blogging is a fad.
Ummm … excuse me Robert but no where did I say that you gave up on Twitter as I well know you haven’t by reading your many tweets per day … so don’t call my ability to get the fact correct into question.
As for Facebook being a fad only time will tell I guess but in my estimation its closed wall attitude will backfire on it at some point not to mention the effect of social network exhaustion.
I couldn’t have said it better myself, although this post seems to be a little link-baity anyway…
>I still remember when Twitter was the cool place to be for Robert but then that changed to Pownce and now it is Facebook
It hasn’t “changed.” It’s added onto. Just because I don’t yammer on endlessly about Twitter doesn’t mean I haven’t changed my behavior. I still am VERY active on Twitter. That’s what you got wrong.
Steven, the new theme looks great on Safari.
The truth is, there is no one true answer for everybody. For some, Twitter works, for others, Facebook will work. For others, they blog and avoid social networks. Robert is enjoying all of them to varying degrees, as that’s part love, part hobby and part job. Facebook is his current love. You are right, tomorrow he may move on to something new, but it’s not there yet.
Louis;
Thanks for the comment on the theme.
The thing is with Robert is that whether he - or even the rest of the b’sphere - cares to admit or not his words carry a lot of weight in adoption of web technology beyond the scope of the early adopters. The thing that bothers me with his gushing over Facebook is the support is shows for what is basically a closed ecosystem. This from a man this is suppose to be all about openness.
I totally get the fact that Robert goes from one hot Web 2.0 tech to another because that is his job and the reason I read his blog and have his shared links in my feed reader.
THANK YOU. Facebook IS a fad. No of course it won’t “die”, but it will certainly be replaced by something else. Usenet is still around, but it was ‘replaced’ by mailing lists (or were mailing lists first.. I’m not THAT old), then by IRC then by IM then by forums then by MySpace and now it’s Facebook. People will communicate online in hundreds of different ways, and Facebook is just the latest fad.
Remember when this whole “internet thing” was just a fad?
You’re right though, Roberts words carry with them a whole load of influence in the B’sphere and the Web 2.0 world..
But so what? Robert can drift like a leaf on the breeze from one web 2.0 fad to the next and his gushing will still really only affect people like us.
Web 2.0 is in itself a walled garden, patrolled and maintained by the geek “elite”.
The majority of folks I know still don’t know that there is such as thing as a web 2.0. it’s all “Google” or the net to them… And as for knowing about Facebook? Are you kidding?
Some of them may know about MySpace but thats just because it was on the Dr. Phil show…
So here’s my question in all of this: Folks within the tech community keep jumping from one thing to another, yet there are those people out there (like the blue collar majority) who are still just catching on to the idea of email. Some of these folks are just starting to have a notion of understanding what a blog is. So what happens as all of these technology progressions keep leaving a majority in the dust?
Or, my questions summed up shortly:
Where or what application will mass adoption take place?
Or is that happening already and I just happen to be a farmer who only talks to the last 500 people on earth to get an email address?
Chris;
you are not the only who deals with real people and your question(s) are quite valid and something I will be thinking on
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