I think once LinkedIn gets their development platform up and running and their OpenSocial involvement is available through the interface you will see more features bubble up to the top in the form of widgets and add-on applications.

Then us old geeks and business people will be more content on Linkedin and spend more time there and those college kids can enjoy Facebook more without us.

Though I enjoy Facebook too!

Hi Brian,
I do get your point about the demographic mix of facebook and while I do enjoy fooling around with my friends and family, I would enjoy more serious privacy while working on some business projects.
But I am optimistic, thanks to that blog, I learned that there are some projects to address these issues.
Facebook is trying to define better social network vs. social graph which would allow you to compartment your relationships with people, we will no longer hae all these “friends” but categories of relationships.
An other project that is worth looking at is the data portability project Google, Facebook and cie are working on. To be franc with you, I read through the blogs and I got lost in some topics but it basically consist on almagating your contact information, organizations and contact into one unique database that would follow you from one social network to an other which makes sense while you might want to try other form of networking than facebook but as you said – one gets used to a portal and sometime it is hard to move out and leaving all your datas behind.
Have a great day,
Sylvain

I think we need to look at the bigger picture of the near future. Once the work of the Data Portability workgroup (the newest buzz word) takes shape, the social networking sites will be largely irrelevant. As a user, I can move my data where it makes sense. My profile and social fabric go where I want it to go. I could use LinkedIn as my social networking “portal” yet still maintain “links” to friends/family/co-workers who may or may not have profiles on LinkedIn.

I like Facebook in that is keeps me connected with people I don’t normally connect with (FB makes it easy). But I hate all the damned application invites. If DataPortability is implemented properly, I’ll be able to move my social fabric where ever I like… or at least to social networking sites that support DataPortability.

I’m on the co-existence side of things. Hopefully, what will happen is the tools and applications available to make Facebook whatever YOU want it to be will evolve.

Amen on the no-zombie policy.

I keep getting invites to those stupid apps by people that should really know better.

And folks, just say no to Funwall…it’s for people that think lowbrow humour and chain letters are da bomb

Speaking of declining application invites… I just block all of them. I have several applications, but only the ones that I choose to install.

Here’s how to block them:
http://tech.karbassi.com/2007/09/19/automatically-block-facebook-applications/

Hi Brian,

we researched a Finnish social networking site IRC-Galleria 2006-2007, it’s been up since 2000, and shortly put the users (most in their high teens) didn’t take the service as a destination but a medium. Instead of seeing themselves as users of IRC-Galleria, they took it as a medium enabling them to interact with their friends.

For the users it was not about being a customer of a hip restaurant who will move on after the place gets plagued with un-hip tourists. It was having a (branded) mobile phone you can use to communicate with your friends; if your teacher or mum calls, you can choose not to answer or tell them sweet lies of your current whereabouts. I personally take Facebook to be the same; which is why I appreciate the (increasing) compartmentialization mentioned by Sylvain.

friendly greetings, appreciate this blog very much
Marjoriikka

Many thanks for the helpful input from Sylvain and Marjoriikka about alternatives to the (currently) confining social groups within Facebook. I’ll look into the Data Portability situation and see where that’s headed. If it pans out, seems to me that vendors have a brand-new worry when it comes to customer loyalty. All the talk about it being more expensive to reclaim a customer than it is to retain one will apply to social networking sites. One assumes they’ll adapt, but a whole new debate over stickiness may ensue.

[...] Data Portability, and Stickiness Live and learn. After my recent post musing about who owns Facebook — the college students who were the original targets or the businesspeople who’ve [...]

Brian, I will forward it to my college age children and their friends. You should get some interesting views. Of course, the answer is no one group owns facebook. It has spiriled out of control of such questions. The more interesting clash is more between notions of workplace vs. personal privacy. There was an article in USA Today about a woman who revealed her same sex relationship to her facebook “friends” and one of them turned out to be a co-worker that she didn’t realize she’d allowed to view her information. It all represents natural growing pains that are inevitable and unavoidable. For the current generation, online networking is akin to Woodstock for our generation. It is a revolution in communication in the making that cannot be stopped. Innovation is on it’s way in the forms of filtering at a very granular level that will allow you to “control” the dissemination of your personal information and views. But the lesson everyone has to learn is that anything posted is capable of finding it’s way to unintended audiences. You will find the younger generation much more comfortable with this fact than most of us old fogies. On the other hand, I don’t think everyone realizes the record of “you” being indelibly collected.

It seems unlikely that facebook would segment itself since its primary objective is automatic, exponential growth by linking all its members. The resulting clutter is a symptom of the business plan and will prevent it from being viewed as a serious business tool. They are clearly more interested in growth than keeping it decluttered. Kids and social adults love it but I don’t think it supports effective business use at this time.

I’m not a heavy user of Facebook by any means, but I think it is starting to mirror the way many people approach their lives these days. They try to balance work and family lives in ways that allow them to make the most of both….if a social networking site can let me talk to friends/family and business peers alike, no harm done.

I agree with Kin. Facebook is too annoying right now with all the juvenile applets. Do I really care if one of my business contacts is sharing movie tastes with someone else? Facebook is powerful, but there is a market opportunity for a site that has the best of LinkedIn (which so far has a lock on “I need a job.”) combined with the best of Facebook, but specfically targeted at business people that want to stay connected.

Sorry im a bit late on this one, but no one seems to realise that you can block all these apps and personalise facebook quite easily. I use it purely for social purposes and i get a lot of invites i dont care for, I only have to scan them and click block, if someone in particular sends you loads of junk go for the ‘block all invites from this friend’. I agree perhaps there should be an option on the privacy settings that blocks all incoming invites, or at those without some qualification or outside of your business network.

Also change your settings on your applications so everyone you know doesnt get info on who you’re flirting with today in their news feed. The photos are perhaps the most ‘dangerous’ element in this. But check the privacy settings too, theres a lot you can do to decide who sees what. I’m not providing an information service, just making a point.

For the record, to me it seems fairly segmented anyway, i dont get a great deal of contact with anyone i dont know. In terms of the business side of things, all i get is targeted adverts i wish i could block. That will be the thing that one day pushes facebook’s core users away.

who exactly does Mark Zuckerberg work with in his organisation?

I am a boomer and love facebook. So do all my friends. So does my 15 year old daughter and my 40 year old nephew and my 80 year old friend from Nantucket. It is a place to connect with all ages. I use it for business–writing and publicizing my books. My family posted al of our wedding photos. When my niece moved to Amsterdam she posted her apartment photos for the entire family to see. It is the most amazing thing for me to be able to share thoughts, little videos, photos and everything else with everyone I have ever know–and instantly.
I love the lack of separation; the instantaneous pleasure.

It’s better than the invention of the car and it makes me smile every day.

For serious small business owners as myself, Facebook gives me the ability to be connected to people all over the world.
As with any website, you have to be very careful in who you place as your friends.
I agree with Simon in that you can personalize you pages quite easily including blocking programs.
We just have to excersise caution when on any site.

Brian:
You didn’t answer the question:
WHO owns Facebook?
Does Mark Zuckerberg own Facebook?
Thank You!

i wish to complain about facebook i have been took off for adding friends i was adopted at 3 and after 50 years i have found nearly 20 relatives who are on facebook and now cant get in touch with them jackie lammiman tel no 07515383029

Joselui, he was posing the question with his article – who does, the businesses or the iGen users? I don’t think he intended to answer that question in his article. There is no real answer to that, philosophically.

As for who really/technically owns it, Bryan linked this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook – there you will see that Facebook is a corporation which Zuckerman owns largely, but there are other shareholders including Microsoft!
It’s an interesting (but long!) Wiki article.

[...] Facebook to be lame, but those old people that showed up late on the scene to ruin it (like me and many of my friends) use it as an opportunity to be provocative or to try and show off their (Editor’s Note: [...]