It’s probably wrong for me to talk about Facebook at all, since I simply do not get it. I have been trading ideas on the nets since there was only one net, but I have never understood small talk in real life, much less in HTML with loosely-connected strangers.
Even so, I have been convinced all along that Facebook (and all purely-social media, for that matter) is a fad, the Pet Rock of the microsecond. Doesn’t matter to me, either way, since I will never get small talk. But I found this article on Facebook’s forthcoming IPO interesting:
Users lose interest in the faddish social games – The dirty secret of the early days of Web 1.0 is that pornography was the only revenue source that allowed companies to survive until real business models evolved. Social gaming has thus far provided the same service to Web 2.0. We are currently in an Air Pocket of Retardedness where kids and housewives have figured out how to submit their credit card information for utter stupidity like Farmville and Mafia Wars but haven’t yet realized how dumb they are for having done so. It is only a matter of time before the spell wears off and people realize how utterly ridiculous it is to be buying virtual crops and power-ups with money that can otherwise be used in the physical world. Remember ringtones? How about The Sims? Or Garbage Pail Kids or Pogs or Pokemon or Texas Hold’em or Beanie Babies or any of the other “flush your money down the toilet” fads of the past 20 years? These things pass and we eventually laugh at ourselves. That moment is coming soon for social games that require continual charges on our credit cards.
I like this:
The initial appeal of creating a Facebook profile for the average person was that the ability to code or “understand” the web or HTML was completely unnecessary. Which was brilliant, it allowed users to generate a page with next to zero knowledge about the ways of the web. The problem is, as time marches on, ignorance turns into curiosity and then experience. The web is now a native environment to the kids born in the 1990’s, they don’t know a world without it. And their ability to create their own blogs, web pages and websites will place them at the vanguard of an eventual mass exodus from the closed-off, institutionalized Facebook.
This has always been the promise of the Web 2.0 idea, user-generated content. Facebook (and Twitter, etc.) deliver on the user-generated part, but the content is pretty thin gruel. I love the idea of the web as the new Agora, with Aristotle walking, deep in thought, wherever he finds himself — and with everyone on earth able to find him.
Is that a pipe dream? Yesterday, walking with Cathleen and the dogs on the Arizona Canal, I marveled at how fitness-conscious people our age are. This was the very rare exception when I was a kid. Just as lots of people are providing for their own bodily defense now, I think people are waking up to the fact that they must also provide for their own intellectual defense. Facebook could be the very last instance of the megaphone media, the echo-chamber media, the me-too media. That’s a notion that should have a “like” button!
Mark Madsen says:
Like
January 3, 2012 — 9:39 am
Dawn Sadler says:
This is a phenomenal post, and a good example of why I am such a huge Bloodhound fan. I completely share your position on both the small talk aspect of Facebook and and gaming.
However, I have a different thought about the value of Facebook. I agree that user-generated content is and will continue to become a native language for younger (and older) generations, but creating content and connecting people to that content are two very different things. Marketing is rarely a native language in any generation.
Is one of the values of Facebook (that cannot be easily replicated) the ease in which people can connect others to their content, whether it’s their toddler at a pumpkin patch or a new product launch? Without social media such as Facebook and Twitter, would we be back to search engines and high dollar media spends (online and off) to connect people to our content?
Just a thought. Really awesome and insightful post, as always.
January 3, 2012 — 9:49 am
Sandy Shore says:
I do believe that “Air Pocket of Retardedness” is one of the best (and funniest) references I’ve heard/read to the idea of online payment for…well…NOTHING!!! I was actually LOLing! Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, there simply weren’t nearly as many ways to ‘kill time’ – and spend money doing it – as the internet has afforded the youth (and less ambitious adults) of today. I have had a basic dislike and distrust of Facebook since it’s inception, probably because so many people seem to be drawn to it like lemmings. For my college kids who have moved around a bit, it seemed like a fun way to keep in touch with their old friends. But for me, I’ve never really liked the idea of ‘old friends’, especially those I have had no desire to keep in touch with, finding me. And don’t get me started about privacy issues. But, alas, I am now a business person and must use every available ‘tool’ to generate business opportunities. Considering that I receive upwards of 100+ emails a day (granted, most end up in my spam folder – I’ve given up ‘unsubscribing’ because it takes too much time), email marketing doesn’t seem to be very effective to get in front of people who don’t know or care about you. So now I’m supposed to flash people on Facebook (I remember when flash use to mean something else) and “Like” them and their wares. I’m supposed to Connect on LinkedIn, “+” people on Google, and Twit (oops, I meant ‘Tweet’), people on Twitter (I guess ‘Twitting’ people would just not be the same.) For what? To drive them to my website, of course! After all, getting someone to proactively and directly engage you on the phone these days almost takes a natural disaster.
It’s only a matter of time before neuroscience comes up with a design for implants to connect us all directly to the web. Dan Simmons gave us this idea years ago when he wrote his Hyperion series (a great read if you like solid futuristic SciFi). When that time comes, I’m pretty sure people will be laughing at how Facebook and all the other so called social networks attracted so many followers. People will own their own homes on the web (like more are doing every day) and person to person communication will get back to the way it use to be…texting?????
January 3, 2012 — 10:28 am
Gregory B says:
I really enjoyed this article mainly because I agreed with most of it, and even more so, have had these thoughts but haven’t heard anyone express them quite the way that you did. Boy, what will everyone do with their lives if the “demise” of Facebook is inevitable? Actually go out and live??!!
What I think was part of the initial appeal of Facebook in addition to the feeling of learning “to code or “understand” the web or HTML”, was this false sense of “celebrity” that people get from being on a site where you can be seen by millions of potential viewers. Once the reality that we are still just average, ordinary people for the most part, the novelty wears off.
January 4, 2012 — 7:47 am
Jonathan Browning says:
Great article, it really has made me sit for a second and think about how I truly feel about Facebook. I would have to say that I am a fan of Facebook (social media) from a personal and a business perspective. Facebook is great from a personal perspective because it allows you to stay in touch with people with very minimal effort. Then, from a business perspective, social media and all new technology in general is outstanding. It allows a small company to grow faster and a large company to become more personal with their customers. This was practically impossible in the “pre-social media era”.
However, I do have to agree that from a users’ perspective, Farmville is an “Air Pocket of Retardedness”. But, from a creators/entrepreneurs perspective, Farmville is very intriguing. I watched a TED Talk Video a few weeks ago that explained the brilliance behind Farmville. Evidently the creators were able to make the most simple game so addictive because they utilized Game Theory and randomized rewards. This allowed them to influence the users’ behavior.
January 4, 2012 — 6:22 pm
Rich Cederberg says:
I have to agree with Dawn and Sandy. While the idea of paying for games which do nothing more than burn daylight seems like a complete waste, I do believe Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets are important tools for connecting with our audiences. Perhaps the next generation will move away from Facebook and spend their time and money wasting away on their smart phones and leave the social media tools to us “old folks.”
January 4, 2012 — 7:57 pm
Mark Dorsten says:
Facebook will survive for the foreseeable future because the search engines want it to.
Have you seen Google Circles? That is their Facebook knockoff. The search engines need “real people” traffic data and Facebook, Twitter, Google +1 and other social media sites are the way to get it.
Did you ever stop to wonder why Google would spend millions giving away over 30 web based applications? Perhaps it is because you give Google permission to analyze your computer activity in the User Agreements. When you click on that free GMail account you are opening the data collection door.
Search engines need “real people” data to improve their search engine results. Google makes $500 million a day in profit and they want to keep doing that so keep sharing on Facebook, Tweeting and reviewing on Google +1. It works if you are getting it and it stinks if your competitors are passing you by.
Mark
January 5, 2012 — 8:35 am
Dylan Darling says:
Garbage Pail Kids? Come on!!! I still laugh when I see Garbage Pail Kid cards. Loved them when I was younger.
I agree that paying for games to grow imaginary food is a waste of money and time. But I think there is a time and a place for Facebook TODAY… You’re right though, in the future we will have a different form of communication online. Facebook won’t last forever, and the tech kids of the future will come up with something better.
I’ve gotten some referrals for real estate off of Facebook. So I will still use it for that purpose.
January 5, 2012 — 9:55 am
Bill Gassett says:
What I don’t get is the inordinate amount of time Realtors spend on Facebook somehow thinking it is going to get them business. Can you imagine what would happen if all that wasted time was put toward building an outstanding web presence instead – $$$
January 8, 2012 — 2:16 pm
Teyona says:
Very interesting topic about social media especially Facebook. I already hit the “like” button for the comments here. I enjoy and learned from them.Thanks!
January 11, 2012 — 8:33 am
John Slocum says:
For me, I had to learn computer skills at college by writing the code with pencil and paper, then finding an available behemoth of an IBM punch-card machine to keyboard out a Perfect line of code per card; then assembling the cards in order for a batch run. I do get a little bit of the FaceBook scene but, can go weeks without ever logging into it. This year I’m resolved to do more html coding, blogging, blog commenting, running and biking; and writing up deals!
January 17, 2012 — 2:43 pm