HI Billy, On Feb 4, 2014, at 2:07 PM, [email protected] wrote:
> 10 other possibilities for social networks: > Maybe they already exist in some form -- All of these ideas have been tried in some form, multiple times. > Faithbook A growing religion, or a way to help a religion grow > Purplebook Independent voters > Greenbook Environmentalists, gardeners, foresters, etc > Marsbook people interested in planet Mars > Sexbook discuss sexual problems, sexually related psychological issues > -sort of a democratized "Ann Landers" > XPBook -for XP users who want to keep their systems running > Sketchbook artists who want to trade art tips, show-and-tell their art, etc > Schoolbook A network for home schoolers > Spacebook sci-fi writers, creative cartographers, etc, who design planets > Futurebook people who forecast the future Five minutes of Googling would find communities already doing this. > PS > Two sure bets: > (1) At least one, and probably several of these ideas will, in fact, take off > in the next year or two, and Not at all clear that these would take off as *independent* social networks; more likely to be layered on top of an existing one. > (2) No-one here will be interested. Ideas are almost worthless. Execution is everything. -- Ernie P. > > ============================ > > > > > Real Clear Politics > Real Clear Technology > Is Facebook The Last Great Social Network? > > Facebook spent the last decade as the Internet's largest, most dominant > social network. But it might be the last of its kind. > > Author: Selena Larson Publish date: February 04, 2014 > > > Ten years and billions of wall posts and embarrassing selfies later, Tuesday > marks a full decade of Facebook's existence on the Web. From a Harvard dorm > room project to a social network with more than a billion registered users, > Facebook has evolved to help people connect with their friends around the > world--despite its fair share of missteps and controversies. > As we look back at how Facebook changed our lives--it has, whether or not we > want to admit it--we must consider the massive scale to which it grew. And, > by doing so, Facebook changed the social nature of the online landscape in > ways even founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg couldn't anticipate. > > "It's awesome that there's this utility and community at our school, and one > day someone will build this for the world," Zuckerberg said at the Open > Commute Summit last week while describing a conversation with his friend in > the early days of Facebook. "It didn't occur to me it could be us." > > Facebook can lay claim to almost every personal aspect of its users' > lives--from helping high school friends stay connected to documenting every > literal step of our babies' lives, to even being our one-stop social login > for other apps and websites. Facebook is now such a part of the social fabric > that it's unlikely we'll ever see another all-encompassing, dominant social > service quite like Facebook. > > What Facebook has built will be its legacy: The last big social network. > > From Social Network To Social Identity > > Before Facebook arrived in 2004, the Internet wasn't an easy place to connect > with the people around you. Sure, you and your friends could exchange email > addresses or AIM/MySpace usernames, but both of those early social platforms > were littered with strangers and spambots with no good solution for either > problem. There wasn't a website where users could create their own social > profiles, connect with others, but most importantly, feel safe enough to use > their own names--to literally be themselves. > > Facebook changed all that. By starting off as an exclusive platform for > Harvard students that slowly opened up to more colleges (and eventually high > schoolers) over time, Facebook offered a relatively safe, easy-to-use online > platform for users and their friends to keep in touch, share their thoughts > and photographs with each other, and, yes, even use their government names. > > The term "social network" is thrown around a lot to describe any site that > connects people on the Internet. Twitter is a social network. LinkedIn is a > social network. But Facebook is the original social network--the one website > that brought together everything we wanted in an online space, and made > "social network" as synonymous to Facebook as "search" is to Google. > Most social networks are specialized in some way: Twitter is great for > posting status updates; Foursquare is perfecting check-ins; Instagram, now > Facebook-owned, is the most popular place for sharing and consuming photos. > Pinterest and Tumblr are advancing the visual web, and messaging services > like Snapchat are overtaking the personal messaging landscape. But there's > still nowhere quite like Facebook for connecting with friends, where so often > we find ourselves scrolling through updates from friends we wouldn't > otherwise be in touch with. > > A recent Pew Internet study found that many users approach Facebook to share > with a lot of people at once. It's true--there are very few online platforms > that can boast hundreds of people you know personally all in the same place. > And even though Facebook has found itself in hot water countless times over > the last decade for putting profits before privacy (e.g. Facebook Beacon in > 2007, sponsored stories last year), users continue to voluntarily offer up > their data to Facebook--after all, where else on the Web can you conveniently > find all your friends in one place? > > Since Facebook is still the most popular platform where people use their real > names, Facebook login is becoming one of the most popular forms of > controlling and maintaining our online identities. The company is beginning > to integrate with everything, meaning we need a Facebook account to use > services like Lyft or Amazon Wish Lists. Soon, logging in with one's Facebook > account could become the mainstream way to identify oneself online. > > Do We Even Need A Social Network Anymore? > > > As the company pushes for more fragmentation, Facebook as we know it--a > timeline of status updates, photos, news, and advertisements--is changing. > > Facebook has provided its fair share of online offerings over the years--a > messaging service, a photo-sharing service, and even a news service. Now, > even though Facebook still offers its main site and mobile apps, many of > those individual services have spun off to become successful standalone > applications. Facebook offers Instagram and Facebook Camera for photos, > Facebook Messenger for chatting with friends, and now Paper for reading news > stories from Facebook and around the Web. These apps are a testament to how > many people rely on Facebook in some capacity to connect with each other. > > Facebook executives told Bloomberg Businessweek the company's recent efforts, > including Paper, are tailored for smaller audiences, and won't see a billion > users anytime soon. In fact, a Facebook spokesperson told ReadWrite the > company will measure each platform's success based on how much--not how > many--people enjoy sharing and consuming stories on the application. > > As Facebook continues to evolve, so do its users and their habits. Facebook > started as a glorified address book, but now we want Facebook to help make > the rest of our online lives simpler. But Facebook isn't what many of us > signed up for years ago. It has since transitioned into a platform for > developers, advertisers and businesses, which encroaches on the initial > concept of simply being a place for friends to connect. > > Ten More Years > > In 2004, we needed Facebook. In 2014, we don't need another one. > > Google knows firsthand just how much people want, or rather don't want, > another social network. Google+, the company's attempt to create an online > identity to rival Facebook, has largely failed, in part because people are > happy to stay on Facebook (but also because it's pushing features that > alienate more users than they attract). > > As for Facebook, it's likely we'll see the largest social network splinter > even further as the platform continues to evolve. It's not because users > don't like Facebook as an online identity manager, but rather because the > world is becoming more digitally literate and we need more specialized apps > and resources to reflect our specific needs and interests. A full-service > social network isn't needed anymore; a variety of apps are. > > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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