Yesterday it was Harvard campus, then the rest of the Ivy League. Today it’s domination of all social networking. Tomorrow, it looks like Facebook is trying to become the entire Internet. Is mankind ready for this? Do we even want it?
Apparently Facebook’s goal is to eventually become your one and only Internet portal. That makes sense when you consider that in many countries the word Facebook is synonymous for Internet. Facebook’s overlords want to see such equivalency everywhere.
Over the past few years, Facebook has evolved from a mere social networking site. Where once you could write messages, make comments, and share photos, Facebook is now more of an Internet free-for-all.
Just looking at my own Facebook “news” feed I see more articles and items posted from elsewhere than I see personal information. Yeah verily, Facebook has become the information recycling capital of the Internet.
Facebook now tosses up its own suggestions based on the garbage your friends post. It provides trending news stories based on which links a majority of Facebook users are clicking. Facebook messaging has replaced email and texting for a lot of people. These are like stones building a pathway to the Facebook future.
I could really care less, of course. I use Facebook as a diversion, quickly checking it to relieve the tedium of work. I leave Facebook just as quickly, feeling unsatisfied. Or I leave it frustrated because, once again, Facebook has forced my web browser into a catatonic state.
If all this activity seems familiar, that’s because it is! The parallels between the mid-2010’s Facebook to the mid-1990’s AOL are staggering.
Before the Internet gained popularity, AOL was a dial-up service that pretty much dominated the online world. I detested AOL because it seemed to be so condescending and immature. Yet millions subscribed to AOL, which provided those users their only online experience. They relished the chance to log into AOL and hear the mellifluous voice chime, “You’ve got mail!”
I saw AOL as a slow bus on the information superhighway. It was overcrowded, sloppy, and belched pollution from its exhaust pipes making the trip miserable for anyone else on the road. People on the bus didn’t mind, mostly because they didn’t know any better.
According to what I’ve read, Facebook’s goal is to become AOL, although perhaps not the same smelly bus analogy I’ve made. Facebook wants to be your one and only Internet experience, your AOL. The proof will be when you click on a link in Facebook and that link appears inside Facebook. Yes, you no longer leave! That pretty much ties in the Facebook/AOL paradigm.
My guess is that Facebook will make lots of money by becoming the new AOL. People will love it! That is, until they once again feel safe enough to venture out into the real Internet and see what they’re missing.
