I have been reading a lot of reports lately about how Facebook is headed towards financial issues, and how MySpace is just...you know, MySpace. Have you asked yourself what a lot of people's lives would be like without them?
Over the years, Social Networking has turned into the "must have" of the online world like the almighty euphoric Tomogotchi of the past! The millions of accounts that have been created and the type of connectivity that has developed was simply unthought of just a few years ago. Now, it has grown to a point where it is the primary method of communication, getting in touch with old friends, event planning, etc.
Imagine if the 2 giants, Myspace and Facebook, were to fail. What would people do, go back to email? Not gonna happen. People will try to find the next big thing to bombard by the millions so they can maintain their dosage of social network morphine. After all, everyone is turning into online junkies for everything. Work? Online. Staying in touch? Online. Fun and Games? Online. Sexual pleasure? Online (how unfortunate). More after the jump...
Reasons of failure: (applicable to both)
- Loss of interest from advertisers
- Unable to stay alive - financial instability
- New business model - becomes porn site, or professional media outlet.
- Major system-wide crash wiping everything out
- Legal shutdown - court ruling to discontinue services
- Social failure - neglect from the world due to over-saturation
- New revolutionary service takes over the world
Boost of personal blogs after the end of 2 giants:
WordPress, Blogger, Squarespace, and TypePad are all examples of services that allow you to create great looking blogs for free or a small cost (latter two). This can be both a very good, or very bad for the blogosphere. Many blog will be created just so these guys can have a place to rant and complain about life. What worries me is that it will all become saturated to a point where the industry will crash (no, not like the stock market).
The big boys will go on and be profitable, while it will be impossible for those working hard to "make it." I don't want to see the web contaminated with more junk. I mean, who am I to say what's junk and what's not? Maybe this blog itself is a prime example of the "junk" on the web. If it is, I hope to change that by providing quality material (for the most part).
Possible solution(s):
These blog service providers should incorporate strict rules such as excluding all "personal" blogs from being indexed by search engines. They can also integrate member search functionality to make it easier for friends and family to network and connect with each other.
Yes, I jumped between a few subjects in this post but it's all food for thought. MySpace and Facebook will probably exist for a very long time in one form or another. Who knows, maybe these networks will end up dominating our social lives after all.
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None of these "reasons for failure" sound plausible. I also don't understand how the potential fall of Facebook and MySpace would encourage more people to start blogging. People use social networking sites as a form of two-way communication. In what way does blogging do that?
Just shut your mouth and do what you are supposed to do. Dont try to act smart by thibking all the problems of this world are your headache!
@Kevin, first of all, you need to understand that this is a simple opinionated piece about my thoughts and ideas. Of course, some of the "reasons for failure" don't sound likely at all, but the unthinkable has happened in the past and it may very well happen again. Come on, where's your humor?
Throughout the past couple of years, blogging has experienced exponential growth. Without a doubt, some people will turn to blogging as their next method of marking their presence on the web. The level of networking that can go into the development of blogs and blogging communities is huge!
Almost everyone that is aware of the mainstream blogosphere network and communicate by services like Twitter and Plurk (including me). You may not agree, but bloggers are often engaged with their readers and other bloggers.
@Whatthehell, I am thankful for your concerns regarding my headaches, but what I wish to talk about is up to me. Understand that the reason of why this was written is to help people grasp the idea that social networks are becoming a huge part of our lives, often without even realizing it.
I don't think that you act smart, I think that, you are very smart! Blogging is peoples opinions and as so is the comment slot. @Whatthehell really didn't have to get all nasty with what Lasha had to say. I think that if Myspace and Facebook did not exist anymore then that is just a reason for us as people to find something better to do in our day besides let that, give us a headache. I think that most people choose not to blog because it requires to much brain usage (thinking and some knowledge). Oh and yes social networks are becoming a part of our lives, but keep in mind there are more than facebook and myspace out there, so if they seem to evaporate in time then I'm sure we will manage with others.
Because this is your opinion, I can't expect you to back up your ideas with evidence or reasons? You can't even imagine a situation where Facebook or MySpace would fold. I'm just tired of authors who think that use blogging as an excuse to lower writing standards and express their unsupported ideas.
Also, engaging with your reader base via Twitter is completely different than writing someone a message on Facebook. Just because they're both forms of social networking doesn't mean they serve the same purpose.
Not that i am a avid social networking sites user,
but as you so suggested that the 'unthinkable' might happen and these sites may close their operations due to the apparent reasons(or should I say wild opinions 🙂 ).
i might add on the same note that Microsoft is selling itself to Google... after all the 'unthinkable' might happen.
(Although this seems a lot probable if they don't innovate with their products and services, ala Hotmail)
Agreed Blogging is BIG, but i think social networking is BIGGER still, with a single user registered with multiple sites.
The sites may face financial issues but i think firms are ready to buy them to improve on their own.
(Remember Google still has Orkut.)
All in all, lasha...you have pretty wild ideas.
Keep it up ...it pays to be imaginative.
🙂
I might add that your solutions were equally good.
@Kevin, since when was it wrong to write entries about hypothetical and thought-provoking ideas? These are kinds of things that get's people thinking and sparks conversations. I don't believe in "lowering writing standards" in this case. After all, I'm not a newspaper publication.
@Toado, interesting ideas for sure. And thanks! 🙂
Wow, I like how one thought got you all trigger happy. GET A LIFE one that doesn't revolve around the computer 24/7... learn how to communicate with people face to face and not the damn LOL, LMAO, etc nonsense.
you all are so damn sensitive these days...
And if Facebook were to crash... there is SKYPE, and who knows what that can still keep people connected.
being thought provoking is a way to stay sharp and always 10 steps ahead
MORONS!!! (mainly the ones who do not get that simple concept)
I work at a radio station (fairly big one), in the news booths there are 2 computers. I kid you not, our journalists were so addicted to Facebook that they'd have it open while reading news bulletins, they'd literally be reading on air while updating their pages.
They'd miss lines, and make mistakes.
As you can imagine… Facebook didn’t last very long on our URL white list 😉
With convergence, I reckon eventually social networking will just be something that you do without thinking too much of it, we're in an information revolution at the moment, our devices and services are all integrating thanks to the internet and I think that eventually we'll take these kinds of services for granted, just as another thing that we expect to have at out fingertips in our lives.