The Problem With Facebook

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I came across an article today in the NYTimes describing how people are starting to leave Facebook.  While the author’s claims are anecdotal (certainly the numbers indicate impressive growth), I found myself silently nodding in agreement at some of her points.  The author outlines the feelings of being a stalker, concern of ownership of data, the “corporatization” of the site, the concern over FB’s tracking on 3rd party sites and the uselessness of it all, as reasons people have recently left the site.  While I’m not ready to jump ship yet, I have noticed my FB use has drastically decreased.

In the past few months I’ve found that my newsfeed has less relevant information, mostly from people I don’t care about.  I’m big on Twitter, the updates I get are personal, social and professional.  I’m able to learn new stuff about the web world, keep up with my favorite artists and (to a lesser degree) connect with friends.  The updates in my Facebook feed are largely spammy quiz results from girls I went to middle school with (Sorry Laura, I don’t care what Twilight character you most resemble).   Maybe I should only accept real friend requests, maybe not.

Now it seems like FB is trying to compete with Twitter head on, by making status updates public and adding real-time search.  Personally I think this is a terrible idea.  I use Facebook and Twitter for different reasons.  Facebook can differentiate itself by being the place I go to stay up with my “real” friends, plan events and share photos.  Create more useful communication applications (like video and group chat), give me better ways to share my photos and videos (like embedding slideshows) and cut down spam by 90%.  There are huge opportunities for Facebook in location based services as well.

I understand that Facebook needs to make money, and sees real-time as a huge opportunity, but they should focus on Facebook connect (already 10k+ sites using it).  Want profit?  Spread your tendrils across the web, become the universal ID then the defacto payment system for the web.  Create an app store (I’d pay 99 cents for Mafia Wars) and allow microtransactions (25 cents for some more poker chips).

Don’t be Twitter, that’s not why we came to you in the first place…

Related posts:

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  2. An Intro to Social Data Portability
  3. The Transition to Real-Time, Social Search
  4. Slides from Social Media Training Sessions
  5. Measuring the Success of Social Media Campaigns
  • dan

    This B-School guy is saying that finance is a zero sum game and that social networking sites are taking (potential) money away from clean tech investments.* In the ‘grand scheme’ of things, throwing ~billions of dollars into Twit, MyFace, etc has gone to,,, waste?

    Waste meaning, 1) the original investment has yet to turn a profit – which if it did could expand then expand the investment pool- great- but as far as I know it hasn’t 2) at face value the social significance of social media is – imo – less than the social significance of clean tech (“spammy quiz” vs solar powered hot tubs).

    I think you get the point- but I’ll elaborate on the zero sum game idea anyway- mostly because I don’t feel like doing my job right now (at a software company nonetheless). Say MSFT spends a billion on FB and FB never turns a profit. That is a billion dollars MSFT could have spent on something else but now can’t. MSFT has a finite amount of billion dollars it can throw around, and in turn can only make a finite amount of unprofitable investments.

    On the other hand, the Billion dollar investment didn’t exactly go into a hole in the ground. But simply put, the money just changed hands:
    Pre purchase: MSFT and FB Creator
    Post purchase: MSFT-1 and FB creator+1.
    Rearranging the terms you see that we have MSFT-1 + FB+1 = MSFT + FB = pre purchase condition.

    Now lets extrapolate this to society at large. The whole dot com bubble thing represents, I think an example of how the monitization of social media may never materialize.

    I am no expert, but, imo, at the heart Google, the golden child of the dot com craze, is an advertising company (or marketing if you prefer)- which is a tried and ‘true’ business model. Really what it is a company that puts a billboard in everyone’s home… which is real estate… they allow any company to buy a piece of real estate in every computer owners home/office. Obviously they branched out since then but I think you catch my drift. But I’ll be explicit, if the product does not keep my belly full, get me drunk, keep me healthy, expands my human capital, does something good for the world, get me off, or help me make more money (via advertising) – I am not interested in forgoing any future consumption for current dollars.

    Moreover, the internet has led to a good deal of creative destruction in some industries– bye bye local video rental store, bye bye newspaper/magazines, bye bye cd player (records were the coolest anyway). And are we better off because of it? Jobs in Silicon Valley have decreased 17% and wages increased 36%.** Automate, outsource, and pray helicopter ben doesn’t let inflation eat the middle class wage. Adam Smith said, make every man a merchant. Technology seems to fly in the face of that notion- but I, and other more prominent economists, believe technology has lead to some of the greatest improvements in the quality of life for all of humanity – The social advantage of automation has been demonstrated via the, printing press, the assembly line, clothing manufacturing, etc- which has decreased the cost of the goods produced allowing more people to have access to them. Win! – But I don’t think that is the case with Fatbook et al.
    Basically, I ask really, really, really, don’t we have bigger mountains to clime?

    http://fora.tv/2009/08/05/Entrepreneurism_Begin_With_The_End_In_Mind_Jon_Fisher#_Did_Facebook_and_Twitter_Miss_Their_Window_For_Profit

    **http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2009/08/13/silicon-valley-fewer-jobs-at-higher-pay/

  • amit

    @dan hey buddy, thanks for your comments… i have a lot to say about this:

    *1) the original investment has yet to turn a profit – which if it did could expand then expand the investment pool- great- but as far as I know it hasn’t*

    Facebook is now generating profits: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/24463.asp, LinkedIn has been profitable for over 2 years: http://blog.linkedin.com/2007/05/21/linkedin_is_in_/

    *2) at face value the social significance of social media is – imo – less than the social significance of clean tech (”spammy quiz” vs solar powered hot tubs).*

    social media is a way of communicating and collaborating, is television/email/text-messaging less significant then clean-tech? hard to say…

    *if the product does not keep my belly full, get me drunk, keep me healthy, expands my human capital, does something good for the world, get me off, or help me make more money (via advertising) – I am not interested in forgoing any future consumption for current dollars.*

    im pretty sure social media can do all the things you mentioned above, in the same way that television/email/text-messaging/mobile phones/etc… can. It’s a vehicle for communication…

    *Moreover, the internet has led to a good deal of creative destruction in some industries– bye bye local video rental store, bye bye newspaper/magazines, bye bye cd player (records were the coolest anyway). And are we better off because of it?*

    I mean, goodbye horse and buggies, bow and arrow, caravels, and magic eye posters. Are we better off, I dunno I’d rather have 10k songs on my iPod then 12 on my discman.

    *Jobs in Silicon Valley have decreased 17% and wages increased 36%.*

    We’re in a recession, these jobs will come back, look at these stats in relationship to financial services.

    *Basically, I ask really, really, really, don’t we have bigger mountains to clime?*

    We’re just at the beginning of this whole web thing, but I believe social tools can be used for greater good. In essence we are talking about removing barriers and empowering people. The social web will create drastic changes in education (no longer will living in rural areas prevent quality education), government (check out the Iranian elections / twitter story or Barry Obama’s use of social media), and all aspects of life/business. I’m a big believer of this stuff…

  • Dan

    Yea, true, it can be good. Gotta love idealist.org what a great site that is. Didn’t mean to troll on your blog. I hope all is well with you! Cheers!

  • Dan

    Yea, true, it can be good. Gotta love idealist.org what a great site that is. Didn't mean to troll on your blog. I hope all is well with you! Cheers!

  • Dan

    Yea, true, it can be good. Gotta love idealist.org what a great site that is. Didn't mean to troll on your blog. I hope all is well with you! Cheers!