Original Post - Why Facebook has never listened and why it definitely won’t start now!
Some fundamental issues here which IMHO skew this argument:
1.
This nirvanic vision is based on the assumption that Facebook will secure sufficient traction with companies and brands that they may monetise those relationships somehow within a format which is wholly constructed on user-generated content…which is of course inherently inelegant and unsophisticated. By example, my personal impression of the once bankable commodity, now known as @mrskutcher is that she’s now, to me at least, just another girl next door with a geeky boyfriend. Which leads to…
2.
For every ‘brand’ that is personified via Twitter, Facebook or invaded by Google adwords; its once preserved cache is gradually eroded by its proximity to adverts for viagra or get rich schemes. As a case in point, the wedding ring I bought with pride and excitement X years ago at Tiffany & Co in New York now feels a little less of a reminder of a special moment and more like a cheap cop out purchase from a chain store, now that Tiffany are rushing so blanketly into new media destinations like Facebook. It just doesn’t feel the same as a full page in Vanity Fair somehow and nothing Facebook does will change that. Do we really want our most admired brands and celebrities to look ordinary?
3.
There is a complete dichotomy between those that advocate Facebook as a means to communicate with family and friends only, (including Facebook themselves based on their own set limits on anything which exceeds those ambitions), and an expectation that we will all marry an adjacent and seemingly incongruous desire to muddy that environment with endless asinine sales pitches from the brands we used to admire. Anyone of my Facebook friends who deletes me in favour of a fan page is overestimating my interest levels in their activities however famous or revered they may be. I admire many people including you Robert, but am a fan of noone.
4.
The only thing that Facebook truly has as leverage on all its 175m users, is the inconvenience of exporting one’s contacts and data to a better offering if it comes, but I suspect that many like me are also keeping local copies of all their Facebook data or at least emails.
5.
Unlike Twitter, Facebook isn’t truly open and so in order to connect with someone you are interested in, know or would like to know, you are bound to ‘friend them’ or be patronised into pronouncing yourself as a ‘fan’. In terms of reaching phase 7, I think Facebook has a brick wall to push through before that becomes a reality and I’m not sure it is achievable in the face of fickle audiences whose own content the whole model is built on.
6.
As the banks have demonstrated, investors will always buy into the emperor’s new clothes and perpetuate the myth, until one day everyone just sees a naked man standing there. In my opinion, Facebook really ought to look at what has brought 175 million people to sign up so far and being visibly contemptuous of their opionions if they don’t fit in with a master plan is a pretty risky strategy. Most people canvassed recently bought into the concept of a place where they could share and communicate with friends, family and peers in a secure and manageable way. They didn’t sign up to be spoon fed daily messages from people trying to sell something so reliance on that as the holy grail will I feel indeed leave them naked in the wind.
7.
I’ve been harping on about user-generated advertising as a new concept for a while now and it is something we are building into our own projects. Basically what Facebook should do is allow users to sell advertising on their profile in return for a share on the profits. It is the best route to hyper-local and would make your suggestion of finding a great sushi restaurant make sense. (Say I persuade my local restaurant to buy an ad on my profile, then I could earn some income from that and the like/ dislike functions could apply as well.) Similarly I could choose adverts from a library [and/ instead], that I think suit my audiences and get a (smaller perhaps) share of income too. At that point you have potentially everyone registering their credit card details and the commercial options suddenly becomes more self-perpetuating and interesting! (Paypal?)
8.
I do have a certain discomfort which I have to reluctantly admit as well; in that being a long admirer of your career and reputation, there is now a sense that in light of your new role at Rackspace, any commentary on a big ticket organisation like Facebook is against a backdrop of your new employers being a significant industry supplier whose interests are best served by seeing Facebook promoted and justified. I do think that Rackspace are one of the best run companies in the world, but nevertheless, it does take the sheen off a little for me, and you’ll appreciate that irrespective of your usual integrity and impartiality, the sense of a potential conflict is bound to arise.
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