The other day Beth and I were talking about the ubiquity of Facebook in our lives. Neither of us particularly like the service, but its a service we can’t see ourselves discontinuing in the foreseeable future.
And we are not alone in our dissatisfaction with Facebook. This past Monday my Facebook feed, along with the feeds of many others, exploded with posts regarding a so-called “Privacy Notice.” If you’re a Facebook user, you probably saw this pop up in your feed recently:
“In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!
(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place
This post was a block of pseudo-legalese that promised to allow the poster to retain their personal copyright over all the content they upload to Facebook. As an aside, I was disappointed that people seemed to jump on board with the idea of personal copyright and not open access. While it didn’t take long for this notice to be revealed as a hoax, the speed with which this hoax propagated and that fact that such a hoax has spread twice in recent memory, suggests that many users are also becoming dissatisfied with Facebook.
Some see this growing dissatisfaction with Facebook as a sign that the social media giant’s days are numbered. Some even go as far seeing this as a sign of the impending death of Web 2.0.
For those unversed in jargon, Web 2.0 is a term coined in 1999 to describe technology that went beyond the static web pages of the early internet, describing sites that allowed users to update, share, and communicate, creating their own web content. Sites like Facebook, twitter, and Linkedin would all fall under the umbrella of Web 2.0.
With the increased popularity of smart phones many tech prognosticators wonder if we are leaving the world of Web 2.0 and entering a new world of mobile internet (sometimes called Web 3.0). Instagram, the popular photography app that allows users to take, edit, and share photos, is often seen as an example of this new mobile age. If you want to use Instagram, you must own a smart phone, there is no web based Instagram. When Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion earlier this year, now closer to $700,000 due to Facebook’s stock decline, this was seen by many as an attempt for a Web 2.0 giant to make itself more relevant in a world that is shifting away from Web 2.0.
The day I ask today is – is Web 2.0 dying and is it possible for it to even die?
I feel stuck with Facebook. When Google+ first came on the scene I was extremely excited to have an alternative to Facebook. I’d grown tired of Facebook’s user interface and user experience and was excited to try something new, a change, after all, can be as good as a rest. After a week of using Google+, it’s critical flaw became evident – not all of my friends were going to use Google+.
Not only are 100% of my current friends and acquaintances users of Facebook, it is more than likely that 100% of my future friends and acquaintances will be Facebook users as well. With more than 1 billion users, there is a good chance that you and every you will ever know has a Facebook account.
I really like Google+ and think that people are doing interesting things with the service (I thought that summer Maker Camp was fantastic), but leaving Facebook for Google+ would mean leaving behind some of my closest friends, something that I’m not willing to do.
So this brings me back to my question – is it possible for Web 2.0 to die?
There was a time when Facebook could be seen following the same path as Myspace (or My__space, or however they’re spell it this week), something that became hugely popular, but then faded as newer social networks came onto the scene. Now that Facebook counts 1 in 7 people on the planet in its user-base, I feel that Facebook is clearly a different beast altogether.
With that many people using Facebook, I have trouble seeing a future (at least in my lifetime) that doesn’t involve Facebook. Sure Facebook might shift from being primarily browser based to primarily mobile based, but this giant of Web 2.0 seems destined to live for quite some time.
For something as big as Facebook to go away would require a massive paradigm shift in how we communicate and use technology – one so big that I can’t imagine it (if I could I’d be sitting on my private island counting the people who I pay to count my money).
So what is the future for Facebook? I and many others are growing dissatisfied with the service, but its ubiquity makes it difficult to leave. Facebook’s popularity seems to clearly be on the wane, and steps like eliminating user’s ability to vote on privacy policy changes aren’t making the service any more popular. Hoaxes like the “Privacy Notice” post are a sign that Facebook’s user base is growing restless and dissatisfied, trusting the company’s handling of user data less and less.
I’d like to hear from you – are you a Facebook user? How satisfied are you with your Facebook experience? Could another service pull you away from Facebook? Leave a comment and we can have a discussion about Facebook’s role in our lives and society.
Ryan Hunt
twitter: @Ryan__Hunt
