DISQUS

Hashim Warren · 2 years ago

Great thoughts. I'm surprised more non-app sites, likes news sites and blogs don't collect data on their users.

I disagree with this though -

"So why are developers obsessed with Facebook? Because there are fewer applications on Facebook than there are on the web, so there is less competition"

Competition is not the only thing. Distribution for apps on the web currenty sucks. Some apps rely on their 10 pages in Google's index to attract more users, while there is a world of activity behind the registration wall.

Facebook is a new method of distribution for these apps. It's the difference between opening up a store on a random city block, and opening up one in the mall.

Scott Karp · 2 years ago

@Hashim

Is it that "distribution for apps on the web currently sucks," or that distirbution for apps that are derivative or one-feature toys that no one needs currently sucks on the web.

Facebook Platform is sheltering a lot of apps that can't survive out in the wild, mostly to Facebook's own benefit -- but the reality that is, even with help from Facebook distribution, apps that don't create tremendous user value will ultimately die.

Alexander van Elsas · 2 years ago

Scott, I don't think I agree with you on this. Data is static, it doesn't have any real value in itself. It is the application or usage of data that creates value. I am convinced that real value comes from interaction. It is the interaction between people that creates more value than anything else. That is why Facebook and all social networks will have a hard time in the end. They concentrate on 1) network value and 2) profile data. Forget about it. From a user's perspective these elements provide no real value. My profile is my interaction with others. We need more user centric thinking instead of network or data thinking to move away from the web 2.0 trap.
http://vanelsas.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/the-fu...

Chris Brogan... · 2 years ago

I love love love that you're pointing at the data. I've had this thing in my noggin for too long about how my platform isn't me- it's the tool. I've talked about a time when RSS is the blog, and it's just whichever shiny reader/aggregator/smartpicker spits stuff out the way I want to see it.

It's the plural of data, data, that makes this story even more fun-boggling. Semantic web stuff, and what if the Techmeme's-next-competitor figures out a way to really thread the web so we can start to see stuff that lines up into a thoughtful narrative without a lot of hard work? What will that be for me? It will be nirvana.

I'm with you, Scott. I'm in love with post and hope it brings some more agreement.

Eric · 2 years ago

This is exactly right, and why what Facebook is doing is actually back asswards wrong.

Compare it to Flickr, as a random example. Flickr also released a "platform" ages ago; it's the API. And today, thanks to the popularity of Flickr, there's a huge ecosystem of applications built on the Flickr data - blogs, screensavers, mashups and more. The same is true for a host of other services which have become underlying "platforms" for the web. In each case, an API gives developers access to data, whether it be user generated (like Flickr) or not (Google Maps), enabling the creation of better applications than would otherwise be possible.

The Facebook "platform" is basically a glorified widget engine; while I don't think there's anything , what they should have done (and still should do) is create an API to let other web sites leverage the Facebook data, that would let developers really build on top of Facebook, rather than within Facebook.

I think that if Facebook doesn't adopt this approach, it'll suffer in the long run and eventually fade to irrelevancy. If there's one immutable law of the internet, it's that open beats closed in the long run.

Mark Forman · 2 years ago

Goo post Scott. Get's back to-forget about the hat and the rabbit coming out of it. Always follow the money trail.

Dodgypress · 2 years ago

Interesting Observations. I have a tiny question for you though.....Could the precursor to facebook, Linked In, Ever Catch Up???

Or are they way too late to the Game.

Also could the owners/developers of wordpress.com, replicate in some way the dynamics, and success of facebook. Could the value (data) that they have inside the wordpress.com ecosystem be as valuable as that inside facebook/myspace...etc....???? Really lookforward to your thoughts, and indeed, anyone else's on the matter .....

free market research report · 2 years ago

No doubt data is real asset for any business model however, data's accuracy and rightly format are the biggest factors to take any leverage out of it and facebook may not have enough to lure advertisers.

Rick Behnke · 2 years ago

At what point in the value chain is the data monetized? Is it when data is converted into advertising? Is this the only business model that we have at our disposal? When we speak about data are we really speaking about the demographic the data attracts? At the Web 2.o Summit Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook isn't focused on revenue, and he thought it should run break-even while it grows. But what is it growing into? How can it productively leverage this data in the value chain? As an ad machine for application consumption? Is this really what Web 2.0 is all about -- a network for better demographic profiling? Sorry for venting. It's just that I think intuitively focusing on the data is correct, but I'm not sure what can be creatively done beyond advertising to extend the value it creates. Maybe it's the overall experience that can be created for the originating point of the data -- the user. If that's the case then it really is about the Web as an over-arching platform, as Jeff Huber said. But doesn't that just bring us back to the beginning?

Doug · 2 years ago

Great post Scott.

Alexander - I agree with your sentiments.

The media continues to underestimate Facebook - I really think its a generation gap issue.

Its more than data - its like a party everybody's attending at all the time (I'm sure younger users of would agree).

While I'm not one of those users - I can see how the company could be worth $10B five years out.

RONS DIXON · 2 years ago

@ Rick, you are absolutely correct, at what point is the data important and relevant enough to be monitized.

Adri · 2 years ago

Agreed, it does come down to the ability to act as a "node" by bringing together users and their content and that represents the real value of a site. But the "platform" with which this happen is the key to moderation (manual or automatic, a lot of it or less). Moderation has a lot of power on how you bring together users+content and therefore, it's IS important we understand and think of these platforms in web 2.0

Ethan Bauley · 2 years ago

That interview with O'Reilly is the most important strategic info on the web.

People need to think outside the box...there are untold of thousands of classes of data that haven't been organized and made accessible. So many different domains.

Adam Martin {Fat Man} · 2 years ago

In whole hearted agreement which leads us to post the question, how do we display the data? Data visualization is an artform, turn Alexa into a pretty dynamic scatter graph and you'd have us hooked.

But it also raises another question, if it's all about data then the monetisation is all about advertising, and how much more ad based business modeling can we take!!