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Good analysis. I think Facebook made a brilliant move by focusing on the "utility" aspect. They even describe themselves as such in their tag line. They don't s

Good analysis. I think Facebook made a brilliant move by focusing on the "utility" aspect. They even describe themselves as such in their tag line. They don't say "a place to meet people", or "connect with your friends", ...etc. They say: we're a "social utility". I believe they're aiming to be the next-generation replacement of email. A tool through which you connect with people for all purposes. I use it to connect with friends, and recently for business connections as well. They still have a long way to go, so we shouldn't judge them by the features they have today. At least they're moving in the right direction.

nkohari 19y ago
The trouble is, no walled garden will be able to replace email. Email works because it's open -- anyone who can set up an MX record and an SMTP server can send and receive email. Social networks will succeed if someone can figure out how to make it open in the same way. I'd say that's probably the future of communication on the web... some amalgamation of email, IM, and social networks. Meebo gets close, but I think for IM to work, it has to be integrated with the desktop. Maybe an AIR version or something like that...?