::shakes head:: Facebook. ::sigh::
They’ve just reached 300 million users, only five months after reaching 200. They stole tagging from Twitter (at least in their convention for it). And now they, through a Vivox plugin, will soon have voice chat.
With the claim they were in the black last quarter, I don’t understand the desperation. In my humble opinion, Facebook is making large, mediocre steps in the wrong direction. Why?
Because they’re doing too much, fracturing their main focus. Myspace did the same thing, trying to be everything to everyone. Facebook overtook them because it was a far superior networking tool.
Then came Apps, the terrible redesign and, soon, Prototypes. Confusion will only grow if this momentum doesn’t slow or shift.
Facebook’s fearless leader, Mark Zuckerberg (Mini-G), makes grand statements of being the site of the internet, where everyone will have to go to communicate. He and Facebook have the tools but they’re generally terrible. Why add more?
In fact, more will only hurt.
The engineers at FB need to reevaluate. Do they really want the worst chat platform on the internet? Are they benefiting from the ubiquitous applications that annoy more than attract? Could they consolidate pages and groups, eliminating confusion and improving both?
Addressing concerns, not competing with much smaller up-starts (Twitter) or expanding irresponsibly, will help Facebook maintain their top-dog position. From there they can make moves toward the Web’s next generation (be that HTML5 applications, PuSH/rssCloud or data portability).
Or, as Matthew Rogers says, Facebook overdose will be imminent.
Logo courtesy: Vivox.com
Tags: data portability, online, social tools