[iDC] Replacing Facebook

[Jean Burgess]

Geert and list

I left two years ago, in a vocal (and blogged) huff, because I thought  
FB showed obvious signs of outright contempt for and blatant but  
sneaky manipulation of the user community who were co-creating it.

However, in general I am still conflicted about the idea of multiple  
flexible platforms in place of single monopolistic ones - because as  
I've tried to say here before, I think there is tremendous social and  
cultural value that results from lots and lots of different people all  
using one simple, usable platform. If it's relatively open (from our  
point of view, not theirs, which FB isn't) and interoperable (ditto).

Another thing in all this is how you can watch the level of awareness  
of these issues grow among users, as a *consequence* of the very thing  
FB's business model is aimed at - increased connectivity and visibility.

Interesting times etc

Best
Jean

On 27/05/2010, at 7:26, Geert Lovink <geert at xs4all.nl> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I certainly plan to join the Facebook exodus. I am confident a lot of
> others on iDC will do so as well. It was just a matter of time,
> waiting for the right moment. Now it's there: May 31.
>
> http://www.quitfacebookday.com/
>
> After that I am keen to discuss alternatives like Crabgrass (developed
> by riseup.net) and perhaps Ning (as a commercial in-between stage for
> the addicts), and many other applications and platforms that are out
> there.
>
> For me social networking is a cultural logic, a skill (for certain
> times)--and a menace (in this time and age).
>
> It is going to be a good thing that social networking sites will
> evolve from large corporate platforms to flexible, scalable tools.
>
> Greetings, Geert
>
>
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