Thursday, 19 July 2007

The first anti-Facebook rant I've read


Facebook is flavour of the year as far as social networks go. But Jeremiah Owyang has composed a stinging critique of Facebook. In a Twitter post Owyang said "i just realized i'm putting a lot of effort into facebook (even inviting you all) but I don't own any of this data, they do."

Good point. It seems that openness is the primary virtue of any internet app these days, because just about anything has the capacity to become vital infrastructure. Therefore, lack of openness is the worst sin.

In terms of openness, Facebook has been praised because it lets people create their own widgets (mini-applications). But the need to sign up or sign in to see anything - Jeremiah's got a good point.

Meanwhile, I haven't even begun to explore Facebook. I've set up a profile and been invited to groups by a few people. Add me as a friend if you like, just let me know you're a reader of Mad Young Thing.

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PS: There's an interesting post from David Young (no relation, but we did check) about the purpose of social networking. Interesting reading.

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