3 ms·

For about 175,000,000 reasons.

by brlewis 18y ago

tmilewski 18y ago
This is true. Regardless of our opinions of Facebook, it has been able to find its way into the daily workflow of the lives of an exponential number of people. This makes it a huge asset to many parties.
- jrockway 18y ago
  175M people that don't click ads, and have no money.
  - gnaritas 18y ago
    Funny how everyone seems to totally overlook that simple fact.
  - jskopek 18y ago
    They're still valuable, only not in a advertising-driven model. As a platform though, it has a ton of value; when the majority of a company's employees are connected on a system they use personally on a daily basis, there's a lot of potential. When an entire city is connected, you open the door to interaction that haven't been possible until now. Facebook could replace dating, restaurant review, business productivity, classified sites, and expand into things we haven't thought of yet, but that requires a substantial user base. The company is still growing out of its college foundation, but judging by its growing acceptance among the 25+ age group, it could start gaining value fast.
jaymstr 18y ago
The fact of the matter is that numbers speak. Facebook is my identity on the web, and I bet it is yours too. It is too late to turn back. Unless they do something 10x worse than Beacon, I'm not leaving, and I doubt you will either. I'm afraid they control your web identity. You know what though, I'm okay with it. It makes my life easier.
- jrockway 18y ago
  I bet it is yours too. I do have a Facebook profile... but I visit the site maybe once every three months, and all the data is the fake data I put in 4 years ago. My real identity is this thing called a "web page" that is the first Google result for my name.
  - gaius 18y ago
    I've a friend who is paranoid about his online identity and always gives fake data to websites. Recently he was ranting that some online car insurance thing gave him an awful quote, much worse than his present deal. Hmm, could that be because his fake identity had no credit history...? The benefits of a coherent identity on and offline are only going to get more compelling.
    - omouse 18y ago
      And yet there are times where you'd like to remain anonymous.
    - rw 18y ago
      The detriments of a coherent identity on and offline are only going to get more compelling, too.
    - jrockway 18y ago
      I don't think you get credit history by putting correct data into your Facebook account.
- gnaritas 18y ago
  > I bet it is yours too. You lose, so what do I win? Seriously, you overestimate the value or accuracy of a facebook profile.
- cthulha 18y ago
  No way is it too late to turn back. There is definitely a positive feedback loop involved, but I think we have an ecosystem too tuned to potential monopolies to allow this to happen without a fight. Instead, I think we'll see social networking layer across websites generally: imagine using opensocial/oauth over multiple sites that you use, as if you could bolt Ning.com over the top of you blog or forum or startup site. I tested out adding Google's friend connect on my wordpress personal blog. Fairly simple, but they still collect the data :( I guess a duopoly is better than a monopoly, but there's still room for web identity to develop outside of Facebook.

For about 175,000,000 reasons.

by brlewis 18y ago

For about 175,000,000 reasons.

This is true. Regardless of our opinions of Facebook, it has been able to find its way into the daily workflow of the lives of an exponential number of people. This makes it a huge asset to many parties.

jrockway 18y ago
175M people that don't click ads, and have no money.
- gnaritas 18y ago
  Funny how everyone seems to totally overlook that simple fact.
- jskopek 18y ago
  They're still valuable, only not in a advertising-driven model. As a platform though, it has a ton of value; when the majority of a company's employees are connected on a system they use personally on a daily basis, there's a lot of potential. When an entire city is connected, you open the door to interaction that haven't been possible until now. Facebook could replace dating, restaurant review, business productivity, classified sites, and expand into things we haven't thought of yet, but that requires a substantial user base. The company is still growing out of its college foundation, but judging by its growing acceptance among the 25+ age group, it could start gaining value fast.

jaymstr 18y ago

The fact of the matter is that numbers speak. Facebook is my identity on the web, and I bet it is yours too. It is too late to turn back. Unless they do something 10x worse than Beacon, I'm not leaving, and I doubt you will either. I'm afraid they control your web identity. You know what though, I'm okay with it. It makes my life easier.

jrockway 18y ago
I bet it is yours too. I do have a Facebook profile... but I visit the site maybe once every three months, and all the data is the fake data I put in 4 years ago. My real identity is this thing called a "web page" that is the first Google result for my name.
- gaius 18y ago
  I've a friend who is paranoid about his online identity and always gives fake data to websites. Recently he was ranting that some online car insurance thing gave him an awful quote, much worse than his present deal. Hmm, could that be because his fake identity had no credit history...? The benefits of a coherent identity on and offline are only going to get more compelling.
  - omouse 18y ago
    And yet there are times where you'd like to remain anonymous.
  - rw 18y ago
    The detriments of a coherent identity on and offline are only going to get more compelling, too.
  - jrockway 18y ago
    I don't think you get credit history by putting correct data into your Facebook account.
gnaritas 18y ago
> I bet it is yours too. You lose, so what do I win? Seriously, you overestimate the value or accuracy of a facebook profile.
cthulha 18y ago
No way is it too late to turn back. There is definitely a positive feedback loop involved, but I think we have an ecosystem too tuned to potential monopolies to allow this to happen without a fight. Instead, I think we'll see social networking layer across websites generally: imagine using opensocial/oauth over multiple sites that you use, as if you could bolt Ning.com over the top of you blog or forum or startup site. I tested out adding Google's friend connect on my wordpress personal blog. Fairly simple, but they still collect the data :( I guess a duopoly is better than a monopoly, but there's still room for web identity to develop outside of Facebook.