4 ms·

They've been openly attacking the open web since day one. I think the problem now is that they've been too successful. Zuckerberg was on to something. He saw t

by unabst 9y ago

They've been openly attacking the open web since day one. I think the problem now is that they've been too successful. Zuckerberg was on to something. He saw the web connecting pages, but not people. So he created a web connecting people and now it has grown to what it is. With both MySpace and Google+ practically buried, Facebook has no competition. We desperately need an alternative, and not just one for the sake of not being facebook, but something that works. The open web needs a way to connect people.

aesthetics1 9y ago
What does an alternative look like that does not eventually lead to another Facebook? I've seen decentralized platforms, platforms that do not sell your data or target you with ads - how are they sustainable?
- unabst 9y ago
  This and this. Precisely the right questions. I haven't checked the landscape in a minute, but I wonder if there are any new projects out there.
thanatropism 9y ago
When I was in college (in 2002-2005), everybody had blogs. Girls who wanted to appear intellectual had blogs; cliques had blogs. I remember being heartbroken that I hadn't been invited to a little friend group's group blog. Comments worked, we linked to each other constantly, etc. But frankly this still was at a time when the internet was more nerdish. Writing blogs was work -- intellectual work -- for reward that was only tangible because we saw everyone everyday and could physically high five or thumbs-up. So of course blogs declined because of Facebook. I myself find myself periodically using Facebook as a blogging platform -- to write and read and debate long takes; but also because most people are not nerdish enough to have blogs. I think we're watching horrified at the de-nerding of the internet. --- Relatedly. I'm really really jealous of kids and their snapchats. I wish my generation used some such platform. I remember when we used IM status lines as short-lived messages into the world -- "Hi friends, I feel sad", maybe with some song lyric. For a very brief while (like a week, maybe less), Messenger Stories started picking up steam in my network -- until it was integrated on Facebook. Facebook has too many people. Disappearing stories encapsulate the whole reason someone my age (I'm 34) needs online social networks: you drift away from your great friends from yesteryear, have less and less time and energy and emotional need for new ones -- at least at the investment it takes -- and everyone in your cohort is either doing the same or trying too hard to be artificially social. If, instead, I could access a significant section of my circle of acquaintances/quasi-friends/might-have-been-friends-if-I-had-met-them-earlier-in-life, etc. and just take a picture of a really good fresh-squeezed OJ I had somewhere or a pretty sunset or some Counting Crows lyrics? In such a way that everyone who is kind of paying attention is aware, but everyone else just misses? It would make a significant dent at this need for a semi-social life. Maybe I could even make a couple of really fucking great friends out of the interesting acquaintances I have. I'm rambling, of course. But hey, startup people. Make Snapchat for adults, please!
659087 9y ago
The only thing Zuckerberg was on to was someone else's idea that he took for himself.

by unabst 9y ago

aesthetics1 9y ago

What does an alternative look like that does not eventually lead to another Facebook? I've seen decentralized platforms, platforms that do not sell your data or target you with ads - how are they sustainable?

unabst 9y ago
This and this. Precisely the right questions. I haven't checked the landscape in a minute, but I wonder if there are any new projects out there.

thanatropism 9y ago

When I was in college (in 2002-2005), everybody had blogs. Girls who wanted to appear intellectual had blogs; cliques had blogs. I remember being heartbroken that I hadn't been invited to a little friend group's group blog. Comments worked, we linked to each other constantly, etc. But frankly this still was at a time when the internet was more nerdish. Writing blogs was work -- intellectual work -- for reward that was only tangible because we saw everyone everyday and could physically high five or thumbs-up. So of course blogs declined because of Facebook. I myself find myself periodically using Facebook as a blogging platform -- to write and read and debate long takes; but also because most people are not nerdish enough to have blogs. I think we're watching horrified at the de-nerding of the internet. --- Relatedly. I'm really really jealous of kids and their snapchats. I wish my generation used some such platform. I remember when we used IM status lines as short-lived messages into the world -- "Hi friends, I feel sad", maybe with some song lyric. For a very brief while (like a week, maybe less), Messenger Stories started picking up steam in my network -- until it was integrated on Facebook. Facebook has too many people. Disappearing stories encapsulate the whole reason someone my age (I'm 34) needs online social networks: you drift away from your great friends from yesteryear, have less and less time and energy and emotional need for new ones -- at least at the investment it takes -- and everyone in your cohort is either doing the same or trying too hard to be artificially social. If, instead, I could access a significant section of my circle of acquaintances/quasi-friends/might-have-been-friends-if-I-had-met-them-earlier-in-life, etc. and just take a picture of a really good fresh-squeezed OJ I had somewhere or a pretty sunset or some Counting Crows lyrics? In such a way that everyone who is kind of paying attention is aware, but everyone else just misses? It would make a significant dent at this need for a semi-social life. Maybe I could even make a couple of really fucking great friends out of the interesting acquaintances I have. I'm rambling, of course. But hey, startup people. Make Snapchat for adults, please!

659087 9y ago

The only thing Zuckerberg was on to was someone else's idea that he took for himself.