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I disagree with that analogy. AOL was trying to put the entirety of the internet within its walled garden: the Web, games, email, everything. Facebook is only t

I disagree with that analogy. AOL was trying to put the entirety of the internet within its walled garden: the Web, games, email, everything. Facebook is only trying to dominate one space: communicating with your friends. Admittedly, that is a very important area, but the benefits of having all of your friends on one platform are huge, and Facebook is simply working towards that. Further, what's "the open internet" in your analogy? There is no decentralized social platform that at all compares to Facebook, and currently I fail to see how there could be one that is viable. Diaspora will certainly not be it, unless the readership of HN encompasses all of your friends.

rythie 16y ago
I'd argue that email is already a decentralized social platform and so is XMPP (for instant messaging) and NNTP was (for newsgroup discussions)
- joubert 16y ago
  Integration of photo sharing, status updates, messages, chat, and events on FB is so much better.
  - rythie 16y ago
    But that doesn't mean it the same thing can't be created that's open instead.
- smackfu 16y ago
  You could also argue that email and NNTP are failed social platforms, mainly due to spam issues. Newsgroups have been almost entirely replaced by one-off forums like this one, and email requires massive continuing efforts to block spammers.
  - rythie 16y ago
    You could also argue that the solutions to that are known but not currently widely used. If you were to create an iteration of email where there only people aloud to email you were the people in your address-book, would that not be a bit like Facebook is now. Identifying people can be done via signing messages with GPG so no one could forge the sender. Having everyone sign messages on NNTP would work too since you could whitelist a set of people or alternatively a black list of known bad people. Forums like this are good, but lack the convenience that a NNTP news reader used to have of having all your conversations in one place.
  - Qz 16y ago
    You could argue that society is a failed platform, mainly due to spam issues...
- fuzzmeister 16y ago
  Until a decentralized platform can give me a stream of what all my friends are up to and the ability to see what any individual friend is up to, it won't be anywhere near adequate.
ergo98 16y ago
>the Web, games, email, everything. Facebook is only trying to dominate one space: communicating with your friends. WHAT? Have you noticed how many corporations these days advertise not their web site, but their facebook (or twitter) page? Of course games are a huge reason Facebook is big today. Email: I cannot stop people from "emailing" me via Facebook's internal messaging. I tell them again and again to just email me directly, but they've been stupidified into thinking that they are emailing me. It's very annoying. Facebook -- like all sites of the sort -- absolutely wants to be your AOL.
- fuzzmeister 16y ago
  I do not at all agree that Facebook wants to bring the Web within its borders in the way AOL did. Facebook pages are nothing more than streams of messages and links about a business, and Facebook is actually moving away from canvas-type Facebook apps (where the experience is contained within Facebook). What they want to do is be plugged into the existing websites outside of Facebook (see Yelp). As for email, I will concede that they are making a play for that as well.

rythie 16y ago

I'd argue that email is already a decentralized social platform and so is XMPP (for instant messaging) and NNTP was (for newsgroup discussions)

joubert 16y ago
Integration of photo sharing, status updates, messages, chat, and events on FB is so much better.
- rythie 16y ago
  But that doesn't mean it the same thing can't be created that's open instead.
smackfu 16y ago
You could also argue that email and NNTP are failed social platforms, mainly due to spam issues. Newsgroups have been almost entirely replaced by one-off forums like this one, and email requires massive continuing efforts to block spammers.
- rythie 16y ago
  You could also argue that the solutions to that are known but not currently widely used. If you were to create an iteration of email where there only people aloud to email you were the people in your address-book, would that not be a bit like Facebook is now. Identifying people can be done via signing messages with GPG so no one could forge the sender. Having everyone sign messages on NNTP would work too since you could whitelist a set of people or alternatively a black list of known bad people. Forums like this are good, but lack the convenience that a NNTP news reader used to have of having all your conversations in one place.
- Qz 16y ago
  You could argue that society is a failed platform, mainly due to spam issues...
fuzzmeister 16y ago
Until a decentralized platform can give me a stream of what all my friends are up to and the ability to see what any individual friend is up to, it won't be anywhere near adequate.

ergo98 16y ago

>the Web, games, email, everything. Facebook is only trying to dominate one space: communicating with your friends. WHAT? Have you noticed how many corporations these days advertise not their web site, but their facebook (or twitter) page? Of course games are a huge reason Facebook is big today. Email: I cannot stop people from "emailing" me via Facebook's internal messaging. I tell them again and again to just email me directly, but they've been stupidified into thinking that they are emailing me. It's very annoying. Facebook -- like all sites of the sort -- absolutely wants to be your AOL.

fuzzmeister 16y ago
I do not at all agree that Facebook wants to bring the Web within its borders in the way AOL did. Facebook pages are nothing more than streams of messages and links about a business, and Facebook is actually moving away from canvas-type Facebook apps (where the experience is contained within Facebook). What they want to do is be plugged into the existing websites outside of Facebook (see Yelp). As for email, I will concede that they are making a play for that as well.