Well, imminent for the general population… I’m already having convulsions. Today, in a blog post, Facebook announced they’ve reached the 300 million user landmark. It was less than six months ago that the company hit 200 million. They’ve also gone from struggling to monetize to “succeeding at building Facebook in a sustainable way.” In fact, they go on to say that they actually went cash positive last quarter.
OK, that’s fine. Every company’s goal is to be profitable, but Facebook needs to calm down. We’ve been relentlessly inundated with Facebook, over the last month especially, to the point that it feels like an assault on the senses. Too much is too much, and Facebook passed that mark some time ago. As if it weren’t tacky enough that they’ve been stealing anything they can from (much smaller) rival Twitter, it only took them 38 minutes to publish another blog post exposing their Prototypes, a direct ripoff of Google Labs.
Now, ripping off Twitter and calling @mentions tagging is lame enough, but prototypes? It’s just pathetic, I’m sorry, but call it what it is. These aren’t copyrighted words, they’re generally used in the English language, pretty frequently, and all Facebook is managing to do is come off looking like the K-Mart blue light special of the Internet. Oh, wait, that’s what Facebook actually is.
As if that weren’t bad enough, now they want to incorporate voice and video chat as well. An article, floated on Cnet this morning, seems to confirm that Vivox’s Web Voice technology will be used in an upcoming, and entirely third-party multimedia chat integration that will be site-wide throughout Facebook. The actual code-work is third-party, the initiative itself is and must be driven by Facebook, since integration at that deep a level can only be accomplished with full access to the site itself.
Why is this bad? I’m not about to say that more features and innovative concept-integration are bad. I will, however, say that Facebook doesn’t need them. There is a point when it simply becomes too much. Case in point: Facebook chat, for lack of a better word, sucks. It’s the absolute worst chat on the Internet. Adding voice and video to that worthless service is like putting hood ornaments on a Dodge Neon.
Everything Facebook does is half-hearted and barely enough to get by, and they don’t seem to be that concerned with improving what they push out to their throngs of supporting users. If this all sounds familiar, it’s because this is more or less why everyone hates Microsoft so much. It’s part of why MySpace is a complete failure, and it’s also why Wal-Mart is the single most hated commercial entity on the planet.
And when your woefully technologically-inept uncle starts referring to all computers as “facebooks,” you’re going to realize exactly what I mean by all this.
4 Responses:
I'm really happy for you, and imma let you finish, but Twitter is the greatest social networking platform of all time.
endofweb.co.uk » Facebook Lite: Already Getting Trashy • September 21st, 2009 at 03:15
[...] without recourse and entirely at the mercy of the ad-providers. What began as a refuge from the relentless onslaught of Facebook is almost surely doomed to its namesake’s [...]
All I want to do is share pictures and have fun with silly chat on the walls. I have email to communicate for real. I feel some of the silly stuff is fun and some of it is stupid and in my way. Is it not possible to set it up my way? I may just drop the whole thing. Its a worry who may say what and It seems just as childish as My-space. I thought it would be more adult. Any suggestions that would allow my friends to still see my pics and say hi even if I am not on face book? Otherwise I feel I can not just go in and look at my kids pics in peace. Maybe there is a setting. It never works right anyway most of the time. And whats face book lite? less junk? how do you get it? do I want it or will it be more BS? Help I feel the same way about my once simple Hotmail now gone live!
Valorie
Hi Valorie,
Sorry about the late response, I've been moving :)
Many people feel the same way as you, and there are other options available. If all you're looking for is a nice photostream, then there are actual photoblogs available along with microblogs that fit the bill. Some go as far as to offer password protection, so that only those to whom you grant access may view your blog.
Great examples of microblogs are Posterous and Tumblr, both of which offer privacy on demand, without hassle. Dedicated photoblogs are useful, but not multi-purpose. Good examples of these would be a simple Flickr account, or a service such as Skitch or Picasa. Like I said, photoblogs don't offer many uses other than simple picture sharing, but they're very useful when it comes to that one purpose. They also tend to offer fairly good privacy options since they're based on the sensitive nature of family photos and such.
Here's URL's to the sites or services I mentioned:
http://posterous.com
http://tumblr.com
http://skitch.com
http://picasa.google.com
As for Facebook Lite; yes, it's basically just the same thing as regular Facebook, but without the clutter showing on the main page. It's just a simpler look and feel, but all the same guts are there. If you're interested in trying that out, just go to http://lite.facebook.com and see if you like it.