Curmudgeon Alert! The Problem with Facebook
From The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:
Kids, let’s face it. Facebook is Webkinz for adults. Facebook is a Ponzi scheme. A handful of VCs have created the illusion of an actual market by funding apps companies and then doing deals with each other—passing cash back and forth among to make it look as if money is being made.
In all honesty, I have yet to really understand all of the hubbub surrounding Facebook—or MySpace, Virb, or any of the other “social networks” out there. And I certainly don’t understand why they’re worth billions of dollars. Yes, I do have accounts on several of them, but that’s due in large part to both curiosity and “brand protection”, and not for the sake of communication. When you’ve got e-mail, IM, blogs, forums, etc., just how many more lines of communication do you need before you feel like really know your friends (a.k.a., those folks who would be complete and utter strangers in any other social context)?
I just happened to check my Facebook account today, and saw that I was invited to take one of those Facebook quizzes. Which I did, just to kill some time—and oh, how I wish I had those 5 minutes back. It was a diversion, but when it started asking me to sign up other friends so that it could “process my results”, I just quit. I hate being a part of pyramid schemes in real life, and I see no reason to change that stance in my virtual life.
Comments
The Visitor
May 3, 2008 10:35pmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7376738.stm
The Visitor
May 3, 2008 10:36pmlatest news is that Facebook is not all that secure:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7376738.stm
Jon
May 5, 2008 5:24pmFacebook is visited by about 22.6 million people per month, compared to MySpace’s 72.5 million.
As soon as better monetization methods are developed and utilized, those eyeballs will translate into tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year. Improving behavioral targeting methods in particular provide huge opportunites for social networking sites to make boat loads of money.
Hardly a Ponzi scheme as more and more ad spend is directed to the Internet and away from print and television.
The Visitor
May 5, 2008 6:35pmi posted a comment with a link in it, but EE thinks it’s spam and held back my comment.
the link was to a BBC report about how Facebook isn’t really secure and your identity and the identities of those in your friends’ list could easily be stolen.