Is Facebook super evil? Jumping off Calacanis’s rant…
If you missed it, Jason Calacanis wrote a very well put together rant on the evils of Facebook. He makes some great points and he definitely has a case.
The following is an email exchange that @bmeriwether had about that post. Sometimes these “offline” conversations start growing and my thought is, threw it up and see if others want to join in.
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From: @bmeriwether
To: @jeffhilimire
Subject: Boycotting Facebook?
Hey Jeff,
Wanted to get your opinion on an article I came across last night: http://calacanis.com/2010/05/12/the-big-game-zuckerberg-and-overplaying-your-hand/
Not sure if you’ve read it or not, but you’re probably familiar w/ similar sentiment out there. My biggest questions for you:
1.) Do you think this article is more the product of an opinionated guy who probably has some friends in the industry who have been screwed by Facebook (and possibly has been himself), or do you think he raises some very valid concerns?
2.) Do you think other ‘big-name’ CEOs will quickly follow suit and ‘boycott’ Facebook?
3.) What’s your take on FB Credits – especially the 30% take FB will be taking from developers? Do you think this, along with the apparent advertising requirements, could potentially hamstring developers into reconsidering their relationship with FB?
No rush, but wanted to put this in your inbox for potentially a future discussion. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Brad
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—–Original Message—–
From: @jeffhilimire
To: @bmeriwether
Subject: RE: Boycotting Facebook?
I read it too, pretty interesting stuff.
People wrote/write the same thing about IBM, Microsoft, Apple and even Google, so I don’t make much of it.
Don’t think brands are going to do anything like boycott, all their customers are there. At the end of the day, they can’t ignore that fact.
I think what Jason overlooks is that Facebook has done something amazing for brands so far and is trying to monetize “extra” stuff. You can still have your Facebook page with your tabs and apps, all completely for free. No hosting, no monthly fees, no nothing. So if Facebook wants to add new features and overcharge, personally I say more power to them. If brands don’t like it they can go somewhere else.
At least that’s my take at this moment, but before I saw your email I didn’t have that take so my opinion on this seems to change quickly :)
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From: @bmeriwether
To: @jeffhilimire
Subject: RE: Boycotting Facebook?
Thanks for the response Jeff. I think I agree with you on most of what you said.
I agree that brands aren’t going to ‘boycott’ Facebook and that FB has definitely earned the right to overcharge some. I guess I’m just interested to see how this overcharging shakes out within the development community at-large. I see the need for more balance – sharing the burden, so to speak – between the developers and those working to produce great stuff for consumers to use through FB and the consumers/brands themselves. I guess that’s what FB Credits would bring to the equation though (at least on the consumer side).
I can’t help but think about it this way though, from the brand perspective: If the value of a FB fan for the average business really is close to $3.60 per year (as Vitrue said last month) then the estimated value of FB for a brand like Starbucks is $25M annually….or over $19M annually for Coca-Cola. That’s considerable marketing equity for a brand – probably so much so that they would be willing to pay Facebook for it in some capacity (in other words, Starbucks isn’t going to NOT do Facebook because it costs them something). Obviously the question for FB has long been, ‘how do we monetize this thing’ – but if their short-term solution puts the burden almost entirely on the development community and consumers who are playing FB games, and not on the brands much at all, that’s a huge misalignment.
Shifting gears, one point that Jason raises that I agree wholeheartedly with is this:
“The Web and HTML grew into the juggernaut they are today because they’re based on open standards that everyone can buy into…. The Social Graph will only reach its potential if it is truly open”
I, personally, have my doubts that FB will keep it as open as they claim it to be.
Great post Jeff. A topic that will surely see a lot of debate.
My 2 cents .. Facebook reconfirms, almost on a daily basis, that you are a guest on their platform and they make the house rules. Brands will play on Facebook until their customers migrate to another social environment. In the meantime, it might be wise to consider a few “what if” strategies and how to encourage fans, or do we call them “likes” to engage with your brand in other social worlds. Tho keep in mind unless you own the platform you have little control. My advice always has been to leverage social networks for what they offer but to not put all their eggs in one basket.
You and your community might be interested in this interview that I did with my 23 yr old -niece about her thoughts when FB first begin going down this slippery slow. https://ht.ly/1LhpY
Great post Jeff. A topic that will surely see a lot of debate.
My 2 cents .. Facebook reconfirms, almost on a daily basis, that you are a guest on their platform and they make the house rules. Brands will play on Facebook until their customers migrate to another social environment. In the meantime, it might be wise to consider a few “what if” strategies and how to encourage fans, or do we call them “likes” to engage with your brand in other social worlds. Tho keep in mind unless you own the platform you have little control. My advice always has been to leverage social networks for what they offer but to not put all their eggs in one basket.
You and your community might be interested in this interview that I did with my 23 yr old -niece about her thoughts when FB first begin going down this slippery slow. https://ht.ly/1LhpY
Great post Jeff. A topic that will surely see a lot of debate.
My 2 cents .. Facebook reconfirms, almost on a daily basis, that you are a guest on their platform and they make the house rules. Brands will play on Facebook until their customers migrate to another social environment. In the meantime, it might be wise to consider a few “what if” strategies and how to encourage fans, or do we call them “likes” to engage with your brand in other social worlds. Tho keep in mind unless you own the platform you have little control. My advice always has been to leverage social networks for what they offer but to not put all their eggs in one basket.
You and your community might be interested in this interview that I did with my 23 yr old -niece about her thoughts when FB first begin going down this slippery slow. https://ht.ly/1LhpY
Great post Jeff. A topic that will surely see a lot of debate.
My 2 cents .. Facebook reconfirms, almost on a daily basis, that you are a guest on their platform and they make the house rules. Brands will play on Facebook until their customers migrate to another social environment. In the meantime, it might be wise to consider a few “what if” strategies and how to encourage fans, or do we call them “likes” to engage with your brand in other social worlds. Tho keep in mind unless you own the platform you have little control. My advice always has been to leverage social networks for what they offer but to not put all their eggs in one basket.
You and your community might be interested in this interview that I did with my 23 yr old -niece about her thoughts when FB first begin going down this slippery slow. https://ht.ly/1LhpY
Great post Jeff. A topic that will surely see a lot of debate.
My 2 cents .. Facebook reconfirms, almost on a daily basis, that you are a guest on their platform and they make the house rules. Brands will play on Facebook until their customers migrate to another social environment. In the meantime, it might be wise to consider a few “what if” strategies and how to encourage fans, or do we call them “likes” to engage with your brand in other social worlds. Tho keep in mind unless you own the platform you have little control. My advice always has been to leverage social networks for what they offer but to not put all their eggs in one basket.
You and your community might be interested in this interview that I did with my 23 yr old -niece about her thoughts when FB first begin going down this slippery slow. https://ht.ly/1LhpY
As long as the value to the user exceeds the risk of sharing information, people will still use Facebook. And as long as they're using Facebook, the brands will continue to invest here provided they can measure results (which brings up a whole other topic).
If you look at Google, they collect lots of information on users, but the value they provide is greater than the risk of sharing the information.
To better understand why users won't leave Facebook, check out this article:
https://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-youll…
Joe – @brohamm
Joe,
The difference between Google and Facebook is that Google never led people to have believe their information was private. Many people joined Facebook because they believed they had control of their privacy.
I absolutely agree to with Toby. Brands will go where the people are, but we cannot put all of our social media eggs in one basket. Even if Facebook was not having these…shall we say …growing pains, it is silly to play only on Facebook…for so many reasons.
My biggest concern with Facebook for awhile has not been privacy but their attempt to be everything to everyone. It is just a really noisy and confusing place. I am a huge believer in the future of niche networks.
Finally…not only are we seeing people boycott Facebook, and it is not like there is a shortage of options for them to turn to, I am still working with people who are unsure of Facebook, and now when someone expresses hesitation, I do not even try to convince them to “get over it.”
Trust has been broken, options are plentiful, and the value that is offered to the members is not that unique where people cannot find alternative options.
I wrote about this last week on my blog – https://mindblogging.typepad.com/whataconcept/20…
I am concerned that Facebook is becoming so dominant a platform, that they can change the rules during the middle of the game, and we users have no choice but to play along, or pick up our game pieces and go elsewhere… and elsewhere does not have a viable alternative. As a new dad, there is still no better way for me to share video, photos, and thoughts with family and friends. The fact that Facebook is looking to make more money where they can is expected, but I do not like that they are taking us away from the open web standards that have made the internet great.
Great post @sherryheyl, and I agree for the most part with your take on this. I think the only alteration I'd make is that I don't have a problem with Facebook being the social media basket that we put all of our eggs into, OR if there's another vehicle by which to aggregate all of our social data.
I'm frustrated with all the different social “networks” we have to use today. Why do I need to use Foursquare to check-in, Twitter to post what I'm hearing at a conference, Facebook to put up a pic of my beach trip, Trip It to tell where I'm headed, LinkedIn to ask about a job, etc. That's annoying (to me) and I welcome a system that allows all of that stuff to be in the same place, with of course the ability to segment my friend list (so I don't bombard my business friends with photos of the beach).
Thanks for the link @brohamm, and you're right, we overlook how “powerful and all-knowing” Google is. If you use Gmail, they know EVERYTHING about you. Yet people aren't freaking out about them. Interesting…