Steve Ballmer of Microsoft says Facebook is probably a fad, and considering the fate of Friendster and the increasingly decrepit Myspace, I suspect he’s right. The larger question, as new media advocates and old-media hangers-on jump from the newest teen fad to the next in a vain attempt to remain on the bleeding edge of the evolving social media, is whether these networks will always have such short life spans. If so, it does not bode well for a well-develop and matured social news network, as such a goal requires a aggregate of trusted users and relationships who have developed an body of individual or collaborative work. I can’t see this mass migration from one well-trafficked network to another, in which the social relationships and body of media that has been developed on the old network is abandoned, to be sustainable in the long term.
The only way I see these social networks as having any kind of lasting impact, the sort that could develop a legitimate social-networking media buffet with the credibility of a legitimized old-media powerhouse, is if the networks currently at the top (and the major ones to emerge) strive for some sort of shared standards of interoperability among platforms. Which I know sounds somewhat insane–imagine asking Digg, Myspace and Facebook to all work nice together. But the history of emergent technologies on the web suggests that some interoperability is essential for people’s long-term satisfaction with the basic functions of the site. Email is a killer app because anyone with email can email anyone else with an email account. The web works because of open standards (despite Microsoft’s best efforts otherwise.) RSS is a revolutionary because it’s compatible across platforms, web browsers and devices–in fact, most of Facebook’s value to me comes in its ability to easily integrate RSS feeds I choose, a functionality Myspace lacks–and makes it seem incredibly out of date.
In this sense, I think what a successful and sustainable social media will have to share is some sort of open standard, where people can a least share a login, or profile information, or blend feeds from one network into another seamlessly. I doubt the biggies of today would try such a thing–too convinced they can somehow transform the sharing of web ephemera into a Google-level success–but it could be a very plausible model for whatever platforms will inevitably take their place.
Paul M Davis
2 Comments
kira
paul! you must submit something to the knight news challenge! the deadline is october 15.
http://newschallenge.org
but in other news, last week my work put on two citizen media events in conjunction with apme and spj and we had this guy rob curley speak at both of them. he’s the vice president of product development for interactive media at the washington post. he claims and swears that facebook is going to help revolutionize newsrooms. and strongly encouraged every journalists at these conferences to get on and see it’s potential.
i think the real difference between facebook and myspace is that with myspace it’s a lot about networking and forging new relationships; whereas, facebook is more focused on maintaining those existing relationships and keeping up with “friends” without ever really keeping in touch. well that’s a lot of the internet… i digress…
something else you might want to look into is a grant program that my work does called new voices. the deadline for that isn’t until february 20, 2008. i think some of these collaborating ideas have some serious potential… that’s something that came up time and time again at these conferences… competition isn’t going to be the answer with trying to recreate the wheel with each new start-up… the future is in collaboration.
07 Oct 2007 09:10 pm
Paul M Davis
Kira–I really wanted to apply for the Knight News Challenge, but have gotten so buried in wedding planning that it fell through the cracks–I would love to try and apply for the New Voices thing, thanks for the heads-up! I’ll hit you up for more info when I get back from Honeymoon–good to hear from you.
08 Oct 2007 10:10 am
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