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Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

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Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#31

Post by jonathansizz »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #15
ams6110 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't trust any of them. That's why I don't have a Facebook page, I don't have a MySpace page, I don't use gmail or any of Google's services. I don't have a Twitter account. I do have an account on LinkedIn because my boss at my last job asked me to set one up, but I never update it.

I understand where you are coming from re: privacy issues, but aren't you also missing some real value? I check Facebook 2 or 3 times a week to see what family and friends have been doing. With Twitter, I follow people into the same technologies that I am interested in, and I get a lot of interesting links. re: gmail: I have never bought anything from a sponsored search link, but I do occasionally buy things from adv…

I have a very basic Facebook page, with just enough personal information so that people I've lost contact with over the years can find me if they wish to.

But I prefer to keep up with friends and family either in person, or via phone or email, and I don't update my own page more than once every few weeks.

I found Twitter to be far too expensive (in terms of wasted time) to be worth bothering with. It's not just the necessarily regular checking for new tweets, but the fact that this distracts me and breaks the flow of whatever I am supposed to be doing. I would guess that twitter users waste many hours per week (and possibly per day for heavy users) like this, in exchange for relatively few insightful comments or useful links.

I think it plays off people's desire for instant gratification, but the opportunity cost of using it is very high.

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#34

Post by forensic »

Seems to me the services facebook provides would be better provided on the operating system. It would have to be built in though - people don't want to download anything.

If Apple got into the business of social networking, they could fracture the community.

I stopped using facebook much when it got bloated and slow. This tends to be what always kills these massive sites. Someone will figure out a way to do better than them and the internet elite will jump shit and eventually there will be more than one facebook.

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#35

Post by forensic »

electromagnetic wrote: post #14
henrikschroder wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's highly anecdotal and as long as Facebook keeps growing your observation does not hold true for the majority of the users. Everything goes in waves though, it lies in human nature to grow bored with sameness. Ten years ago there existed a community product in my country that had managed to capture 90% of all high-school students, and they seemed unstoppable. Now, the product is almost forgotten, they lost…

It depends if Facebook will be gone. Trust and reliance become significant things in stopping migration, I haven't changed from Google despite it being eternally the same because #1 I rely on it, #2 I trust it. If facebook can get one, or both, of these from its 350 million users it has a significant chance to stick around. You also have to consider teen markets shift much faster than adult markets. I know in my high…

Google specifically avoids changing the user experience.

Facebook-today is, for my uses, much worse than Facebook-of-years-past.

In the past it was simplistic, elegant, and did one job and did it well. Now it is trying to be everything and is bloated, slow, and spammy. The signal-to-noise ratio is terrible and I can't find a way to turn off "Mafia Wars" spam.

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#36

Post by zaidf »

sireat wrote: post #25
zaidf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're in the absolute minority with your fake profile. I've been a heavy fb user for 5 years and can't recall the last time I saw a fake profile.

With all due respect, how do you know you haven't seen a fake profile? Fake profiles can be quite elaborate.

  Fake profiles can be quite elaborate.
In social networking terms, "fake profile" usually refers to profiles that claim to be some celebrity. Friendster/orkut etc. are full of them.

You are referring to profiles where someone builds an elaborate fake character. I don't think those were ever that common.

Lastly, facebook always reports active users. I have a couple accounts with fake names that I haven't logged in for at least a year. I created them to test out something.

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#37

Post by zaidf »

chunkyslink wrote: post #21
zaidf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're in the absolute minority with your fake profile. I've been a heavy fb user for 5 years and can't recall the last time I saw a fake profile.

I completely disagree. I have a fake facebook profile that I use to access useful groups / access content from organizations that use it. I would absolutely hate to use my real profile as I find the whole 'incoming' side of it intrusive and desperate. The last thing is need is to have to deal with all the useless drivel people would be expecting me to take part in with a real profile. I would also say that at least 4…

Don't confuse how you use fb with the overwhelming majority of users. We are not the average user.

Yes I have a few accounts too. But my mom, my sister, my hundreds of uni friends have incredibly personal stuff on their fb profile.

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#38

Post by ivankirigin »

StrawberryFrog wrote: post #32
ivenkys wrote: post #4

"Perhaps one day not long from now, everything on the Web will be a mere extension of Facebook." - a very optimistic view of the growth of FB , to put it mildly.

Optimistic for Facebook, pessimistic for the rest of us.

It is entirely possible that the incentives are aligned in such a configuration - where to maintain that position, facebook needs to be better for all parties involved.

Think of this with respect to google. Their business grows linearly with search usage, so their incentives are to create faster and more open access to the internet. Don't believe that "don't be evil" bullshit. They act the way they do because it makes them a great deal of money. AND, it benefits pretty much everyone expect dinosaur incumbents.

[this is just my opinion]

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#39

Post by ivankirigin »

patrickgzill wrote: post #33

2006: Can anyone stop MySpace? 1997: Can anyone stop Netscape? 1999: Can anyone stop Webvan? etc. etc.

The first and last example never had anything close to the scale of facebook. Facebook is the first app of its kind to reach this scale. There was no lockin incentive with Netscape - quite the opposite.

I'm not saying facebook will last forever - just that it is easy to poke holes in your examples.

IBM and Microsoft are probably the best examples of decades long dominance that eventually began to decline.

Re: Can Anyone Stop Facebook?

#40

Post by vital101 »

figital wrote: post #8

Look at Facebook ... look at ChromeOS .... it's the same thing (only Facebook is further along). The business is data mining and advertising. The issue will be who do you distrust the least. Who is going to make it easiest to export my personal data to use somewhere else? Hopefully us geeks will keep pushing for this and then help everyone else follow. Until then I feel like I'm just toying around with the flavor-of-…

"The business is data mining and advertising."

I often wonder if the business of online advertising really works well. Targeted advertising certainly has better results that blanket campaigns, but don't most users ignore advertisements by now? I know that I hardly even notice them anymore (even the good ones).

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