Sarahcpr as a great post about facebook and the myth of one Social network to rule all our connexions.
She uses an analogy that I love : the Independant George. For those you love Seinfeld, it's one of the best moment. For those who don't know the video is below (and a transcript at the end). This is how she puts it :
"It’s the same with my co-workers here at Yahoo who have been using Facebook for several years, but now suddenly have to deal with friend requests from their bosses. With co-workers lurking around, the atmosphere has shifted. What was once a fun hangout is now a place where they just can’t be themselves anymore."
--> "A george divided against itself cannot stand."
I had an exchange with Nic yesterday on facebook, he was asking me what i tought about it. I answered him by talking about the "Facebook cleaning" that students do before they leave university or before they apply for a job. When worlds collide it's becoming quite complexe. It reminds me of friendster beginning when the 3 worlds "bloggers, attendees of the Burning Man festival, and gay men mostly living in New York" first collided (Source danah).
Hopefully Sarah has worked on a solution so we could get naked (at least with whom we want) and rule the world. I don't know if this radical transparency is already a myth (See wired's cover just below) but I've shared some intimates thoughs on twitter and the result was quite funny (You are a hall of Fame dear).
As you can see, I am not sure what is the right solution. I've always see that probleme with a puzzled eye ;-) So maybe splitting it could be great ... anyway it's gonna be a huge identity management problem. But I am sure than facebook will not become an API for friends management. The reason they added Apps was to create these social objects so we deal with everything inside their closed walls. Going down sarah's road seems a very good solution even if i am not sure how we (the users) are going to handle it. There are still a lot of opaque value in the social web.
Transcript :
G.Costanza: You have no idea the magnitude of this thing if she is allowed to infiltrate this world then george costanza as you know him ceases to exist. You see, right now I have relationship george but there is also independent george, that's the george you know, the george you grew up with, coffee shop george, liar george, buddy george ...
J.Seinfeld: I love that george
G.Costanza: Mee too.And he is dying Jerry. If relationship george walk trough this door it will kill independent george. A george divided against itself cannot stand.
Check the post from brad feld and obviously the comments
Rédigé par: leafar | 22 juin 2007 at 21:27