Message from Facebook: this could be war

    Facebook is expected to say that it will turn its
    app - called Messenger - which has 500m users, into
    a "platform". That means others will be able to
    develop software for it (for gaming, hotel bookings,
    tickets and so on).

Doesn't FaceBook have form in encouraging people to use its interfaces and facilities, and then either cutting them off or starting to charge unexpectedly? I wonder what guarantees they will give that they will provide continuity of service.

Certainly I'd be incorporating an exit strategy, and my game plan would be to leverage off FB to start with, to grow as fast as possible, develop my own community and eco-system, and then be able to shed FB and replace it with something else.

I wouldn't trust them.

But that's just me. I'm interested to see what the HN community thinks.

This is so depressing. There's already a standard, interoperable, decentralized instant messaging protocol (http://xmpp.org/). And it does things none of the competing walled gardens do, like real private conversations (http://wiki.xmpp.org/web/OTR). Why can't people just compete to produce the best user experience on top of XMPP?

In the UK, there have been quite a few TV ads from Facebook recently.

Yesterday, after watching another one, my girlfriend commented: "Even Facebook is making ads now - this tells us a lot about how well things are going for them."

I'm not completely sure if there are clear-cut examples of bait-and-switch. Possibly 'pages' where initially the people who liked them would see all posts until it gradually decreased to 10-15% unless you paid. But that is somewhat justifiable by fb's attempt to keep the news feed relevant.

But it is an obvious threat for the 'open web'. Look at what happened to email. My inbox is a great archive for my social life pre-2010, but since then it's just (some) business and lots of transactional mails. With email people had a choice of clients. With messenger you're stuck with whatever Facebook offers. Same with RSS vs. Twitter.

There's no immediate and direct harm, which is why it'll continue. It's comparable to the privatisation of public spaces. People used to meet on main street, now they go to the mall. The latter is more convenient, possibly cheaper and has the (5) starbucks you expect. There is no harm, unless you live on the sidelines of society: as a hobo, or, even worse, protester.

If only there were a business model for something like diaspora...

And email is under constant attack. Especially corporate/business email, but personal accounts are now targets as well. Basically anyone with a bank/ebay/paypal account is a target if they have an email address.

Spam, malware and phishing are huge problems with email. I doubt it will exist forever in its current form. I expect more and more restrictions (on sending and receiving) and more and more walled gardens as corporations and people attempt to better defend themselves.