Comments on: Facebook's collision course with the big portals

As the social network builds out its communications services, it will increasingly compete with the more mature Web giants--AOL, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

[dbargen]

Personally, what made FB attractive at its outset was its lack of annoying ads, usefulness, and relatively focused group of users (enrolled college students/profs). You could find people closeby with similar interests, start up groups, and even check on your friends that were in a different state, seeing what they're up using their posted photos.

Some of the added applications were fun, but it was the fact that you could discover people with similar intersts in that was it's most useful functions. I'll admit that I played with some of the scores of new app additions when they first came 'round, but they've gotten to be so numerous now that they just clog the interface, hence my reason for clearing them out.

Facebook, especially after letting anyone joing, has been moving towards the mainstream "do-everything" social site. Unless you're a hardcore user, it has lost much of its appeal. With all of this outside, big-entity interest, I fear it's going to fall even further to the way side and start blasting ads. We saw how much people loved its focused ads push, which was summarily rejected.

No, I think we need to stop looking at a cash cow for online sales and ads and let it grow and evolve on its own. Perhaps they could limit themselves to small text ads, like google search results produce. I'm thinking major factors like the iPhone/iPod touch may lend another helping hand to the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) movement once they start becoming the media players of choice of the more classic models. Time will tell.

[andrew.mager]

I can envision the day where we goto Facebook to search before going to Google.

[AlexHammer]

In Michael Arrington's recent Charlie Rose interview, Charlie Rose made a statement that previous guest Esther Dyson had indicated that Google is the next Microsoft, and Facebook is the next Google. True enough. However, new companies like Friendfeed and many others will be nipping also from Facebook from the backside. It's always a continual contest to stay most relevant to users. As we see at every tier along within the total ecosystem, building a better mousetrap changes the landscape for everyone in the space.

[AlexHammer]

My name didn't show up, but it's my comment - Alex Hammer

[MarySpecht]

"Yahoo started with a directory, and later discovered e-mail and instant messaging, but it hasn't yet made its social-networking play, other than an attempt to acquire Facebook."

They've made a small effort, with the little-known Yahoo! Mash. http://mash.yahoo.com/

[MarySpecht]

"Yahoo started with a directory, and later discovered e-mail and instant messaging, but it hasn't yet made its social-networking play, other than an attempt to acquire Facebook."

They've made a small effort, with the little-known Yahoo! Mash. http://mash.yahoo.com/

[WeCanDoBIZ]

It makes sense to draw these conclusions, but Facebook has a long way to go before we think of searching there ahead of anywhere else - and we all know how much search drives internet usage (hence Google now being bigger than anyone else).

I think what is more likely is that Facebook and MySpace will be seen as the pioneers that awoke us to social networking, but were then left behind as we all started to register on more specialist social networks which met specific aims - like brought us closer to likeminded sports fans or helped us make better business connections. As we move towards a largher number of specialist sites, a new pain develops of how to manage of memberships and login information. Then someone like Microsoft comes along and provides us a social networking directory with Single Sign On to all our favourite sites and before you now it they have the site we all go to first...

Don't believe it's coming? Take a look at their acquisition of Credentica.

Ian Hendry
www.wecando.biz