"I don’t even want my social network to be part of a social network. My network is mine, it belongs where I am, not inside some other application."
Well, that's the key point, isn't it... I mean, i'm probably the last person on the planet who should be commenting on social networks - i'm social the way the girl behind the counter at the DMV is social. And yet, i belong to at least three "social networking sites" simply because i have family on them and the way they're set up i can't view photos or comment or read birth announcements unless i sign up and sign in. Most of these, i can't use feed readers or any other common tools to aggregate updates, i can't properly bookmark pages...
...but for the people using them, these networks have a lot of advantages. Easy page creation, updates, uploads, simple access control mechanisms, little need to worry about things like comment spam or unwanted images sneaking into your site... Most of the routine annoyances that you might consider just the cost of being on the web are taken care of automatically.
So while my "social network" doesn't fit well into Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever, the common case is much simpler: you join whatever network most of your friends are a part of, badger the ones that aren't into joining, play a few games of scrabble with 'em and that's that.
They're popular because they fit the popular needs and wants. Twitter doesn't. Blog services don't. They fulfill other needs, and sure there's overlap, but there are also a lot of conflicting requirements, and being "truly open" doesn't exactly rate when the price of this "openness" is making my kid sister wade through stock touts, rude comments, and herbal Viagra spam in order to post pictures of her new hair style.
The walled garden social network *is* the app. By all indicators, it's a killer app. And unlike the closed system so loved by phone companies, this one is appealing to users not because they don't know better, but because they know all too well the failings of the open alternatives.
Paul Watson
· 1 year ago
Give it a few years and the limitations will hit even the most clueless user.
We have already seen it with the steady herd migration from one social network to another. Friendster begets MySpace begets Facebook begets PlanetNine.
It will also be a problem when Facebook makes a mistake and abuses the privacy of 50 million people with one developer upload. Boom.
Control your own social network and no 3rd party can abuse you.
All Comments
Well, that's the key point, isn't it...
I mean, i'm probably the last person on the planet who should be commenting on social networks - i'm social the way the girl behind the counter at the DMV is social. And yet, i belong to at least three "social networking sites" simply because i have family on them and the way they're set up i can't view photos or comment or read birth announcements unless i sign up and sign in. Most of these, i can't use feed readers or any other common tools to aggregate updates, i can't properly bookmark pages...
...but for the people using them, these networks have a lot of advantages. Easy page creation, updates, uploads, simple access control mechanisms, little need to worry about things like comment spam or unwanted images sneaking into your site... Most of the routine annoyances that you might consider just the cost of being on the web are taken care of automatically.
So while my "social network" doesn't fit well into Facebook or LinkedIn or whatever, the common case is much simpler: you join whatever network most of your friends are a part of, badger the ones that aren't into joining, play a few games of scrabble with 'em and that's that.
They're popular because they fit the popular needs and wants. Twitter doesn't. Blog services don't. They fulfill other needs, and sure there's overlap, but there are also a lot of conflicting requirements, and being "truly open" doesn't exactly rate when the price of this "openness" is making my kid sister wade through stock touts, rude comments, and herbal Viagra spam in order to post pictures of her new hair style.
The walled garden social network *is* the app. By all indicators, it's a killer app. And unlike the closed system so loved by phone companies, this one is appealing to users not because they don't know better, but because they know all too well the failings of the open alternatives.
We have already seen it with the steady herd migration from one social network to another. Friendster begets MySpace begets Facebook begets PlanetNine.
It will also be a problem when Facebook makes a mistake and abuses the privacy of 50 million people with one developer upload. Boom.
Control your own social network and no 3rd party can abuse you.