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Author here. Didn't think this would show up on HN. These were my thoughts when I wrote it: 1. Most stuff being shared is of no value to most people. Does not

by jeswin 13y ago

Author here. Didn't think this would show up on HN. These were my thoughts when I wrote it: 1. Most stuff being shared is of no value to most people. Does not encourage exchange of good ideas. Sharing, as it works now looks like a fad. It has peaked. Most people I know are bored now, it's just the inertia that keeps them there. 2. If someone is genuinely interested in something, they will seek out good communities to join. HN is a good example. And Slashdot (much more so earlier, but even now), gamer forums, some reddits, astronomy forums, photography etc. 3. There would probably need to be a tool to share with family and close friends. But that doesn't need to look like FB. Then again, Social networks help fight against totalitarian regimes. FB would be missed here, although I think Twitter plays a bigger role. Josh Miller in "The Next Facebook" makes an interesting point: The next network could be about making it easy to talk to people you don't know so well. Example, again Hacker News. https://medium.com/musings-about-text-boxes/8157c364d26a https://medium.com/musings-about-text-boxes/8157c364d26a I am working on some related ideas, for open communities and forums. This will be open source, and I'll document, share and collaborate on the entire process of designing this application (like discussions, whiteboards, sketches etc) . Plan to start this week, if interested add me on Twitter (@jeswin). Code isn't committed yet, but it will be here: https://github.com/jeswin/fora https://github.com/jeswin/fora PS: This was written in a hurry. I apologize for mistakes. I have to leave now; I'll check comments later in the day.

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vincentperes 13y ago
1. I feel that the pages I'm following bring me a good value. When it comes to people, if somebody is posting crap, I usually remove it from my timeline. I don't think Facebook is meant to exchange good ideas in public, but to share information. I don't want to be philosophical, but being bored is like everything else in life, you keep taking public transport, because it's useful, not that you are in love with it. 2. Facebook is not meant to build a community around a theme, you get information and feedback on pages but nothing more. Dedicated website on games, astronomy etc. were there before and will be there after. 3. I'm living abroad and share every week with my family on a Facebook private group, I just find the feature great! In general I think that experiences in life are so different and all require a different set that you simply can't aggregate them all on one and unique website. "The next network could be about making it easy to talk to people you don't know so well." is just called the web?
rythie 13y ago
I think what you're missing is, that facebook is a tool for extraverts - it doesn't matter that people don't have much to talk about - they just want to talk with friends - about anything really. What you are describing is a tool for more introverted style people (like myself) who primarly want to talk about common interests
scholia 13y ago
Re point 1, see my answer above, especially the last bit https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5814061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5814061 The idea that the shared stuff is of "no value to most people" is a good indication that you haven't understood what's actually going on. > doesn't need to look like FB This is true, but then, Facebook has 1.1bn users and has thrashed all of the rival sites in the marketplace. You should be able to work out why Facebook has been really successful and why Friendster, Orkut, Hi5, MySpace, and many others have not. If you don't understand that, then you're not in a good position to criticise Facebook.
snowwrestler 13y ago
> 1. Most stuff being shared is of no value to most people. Does not encourage exchange of good ideas. These two concepts are not at all the same thing. Social communications between friends and family are not idea-based, they are fact-based. "How was your day?" "How's your sister?" "What happened to your face?" "How are you feeling?" "Did you get that new car?" etc. People want just want a taste of the other person's life and emotional state. Facebook is great for that. I agree that Facebook is not great for exchanging and discussing ideas. As you point out, that is why forums like HN have grown at the same time as Facebook has grown.

by jeswin 13y ago

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vincentperes 13y ago

1. I feel that the pages I'm following bring me a good value. When it comes to people, if somebody is posting crap, I usually remove it from my timeline. I don't think Facebook is meant to exchange good ideas in public, but to share information. I don't want to be philosophical, but being bored is like everything else in life, you keep taking public transport, because it's useful, not that you are in love with it. 2. Facebook is not meant to build a community around a theme, you get information and feedback on pages but nothing more. Dedicated website on games, astronomy etc. were there before and will be there after. 3. I'm living abroad and share every week with my family on a Facebook private group, I just find the feature great! In general I think that experiences in life are so different and all require a different set that you simply can't aggregate them all on one and unique website. "The next network could be about making it easy to talk to people you don't know so well." is just called the web?

rythie 13y ago

I think what you're missing is, that facebook is a tool for extraverts - it doesn't matter that people don't have much to talk about - they just want to talk with friends - about anything really. What you are describing is a tool for more introverted style people (like myself) who primarly want to talk about common interests

scholia 13y ago

Re point 1, see my answer above, especially the last bit https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5814061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5814061 The idea that the shared stuff is of "no value to most people" is a good indication that you haven't understood what's actually going on. > doesn't need to look like FB This is true, but then, Facebook has 1.1bn users and has thrashed all of the rival sites in the marketplace. You should be able to work out why Facebook has been really successful and why Friendster, Orkut, Hi5, MySpace, and many others have not. If you don't understand that, then you're not in a good position to criticise Facebook.

snowwrestler 13y ago

> 1. Most stuff being shared is of no value to most people. Does not encourage exchange of good ideas. These two concepts are not at all the same thing. Social communications between friends and family are not idea-based, they are fact-based. "How was your day?" "How's your sister?" "What happened to your face?" "How are you feeling?" "Did you get that new car?" etc. People want just want a taste of the other person's life and emotional state. Facebook is great for that. I agree that Facebook is not great for exchanging and discussing ideas. As you point out, that is why forums like HN have grown at the same time as Facebook has grown.