The Beginning of the End of Facebook Twitter

The Death of Facebook Twitter and others

I have been commenting about the cultural and social impact of social networks as well as the exploitation of people’s exhibitionism by the business model applied by social networks. Facebook a 21st Century Nightmare discusses some of the bleak aspects of social networking.

Social Networks are of Public Interest

Interestingly, some of the more restrictive countries when it comes to freedom of expressions, such as Iran,  have now started to take measures to block Facebook in their countries. Obviously the censorship is never a measure of strength nor will it work on the long run.

On the other side, politicians have noticed the importance of Social Networks as communication tools and they use them a similarly uncritical way as the fooled crowds, even worse: they are abused to serve as magnets, as good examples to drag people into those networks. This week on the news it was mentioned that Barack Obama had some 6.5 Million contacts on Facebook and that Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President has made it to over 100 000.

Here is the contradiction: Public Interest is to protect people from negative effects of social networking; public people’s interest seems to be to use these networks to build personal popularity. I am not claiming that the example of Iran should be copied, all to the contrary, but I am not claiming either, that to blindly follow Presidents into social networks is a smart move.

Presidents have no Clue

What does Barack Obama or Nicolas Sarkozy know about Facebook, Social networks or the Internet in general? My guess is: they have no clue. Their public image is managed by people who are paid to build their public image and to use about all means to achieve that goal.

Their first shot was good: a smart campaign can help to improve electoral results. Now that’s great! How about if the wind turns and that crowd of 6.5 million people start turning against Barack Obama? I wonder how much freedom of expression will then remain with Facebook USA.

My guess is, that at that point, presidents will start drawing people’s attention to the negative effects of Facebook and others, to minimize the impact and they will count on the fact that people will forget about the use made of social networks to get into the power position in the first place.

We are not yet there but be sure, in a near future, public people will have to dissociate from the policies of Social Networks and claim, that we are all in the same boat and that we have all been abused, cheated or at least that we have not been made aware of the dangers inherent to the business and security model of Social Networks.

Controversial News

A recent Australian Study claims that the use of Facebook by employees during working hours increases productivity … provided the time spent does not exceed 20% of the working hours! The study does not specify how those 20% are made up for …

In France a recent report suggests that Facebook, Twitter and friends are a great source of information for criminals, thieves and pedophiles. This sounds rather a reasonable as assumption considering the kind of information people stick to social networks.

Imagine: Your Profile indicates that you are single, living in a given town (your address can easily be found in the Phonebook) and you Tweeter that you are just leaving for the airport to fly from Athens to Rio. During your tripp you keep your contacts informed about your trip, places visited and people met … great! Everyone knows, you are in Brazil and days away from home. Imagine the rest of the story.

Dangers

Information is like a knife: you can use it to cure or to kill.

Social Networks build their popularity on the exhibitionism of their users. The more you uncover, the more behavioral deductions are drawn and the more interesting the social network becomes for advertisers. The information is not only used by Facebook and or its advertisers but also by people who may not be well intended.

Some of the main dangers are linked to profiles and pictures: identity theft and pedophilia.

Based on all the personal information people give away, it becomes easy to abuse profiles for illegal purposes.

Fear and Trust

The increasing number of reports in the daily news about security issues on Facebook and other social networks as well as the increasing number of reported identity theft or criminality in relation to content loaded to social networks will start to create fear, insecurity and people will either turn away from social networks or restrict the flow of communication. The consequence for social networks is fatal since they are built exactly on the extensive publication of personal data and exhibitionism.

Can you trust social networks?

Sure you can: trust that a social network is not here to neither protect your data nor your interest.

The trust issue is a real issue, also for Facebook. Increasing aggressive advertising does not strengthen the trust users have into the network even if Internet users know how not to click on typical ads links. Advertising in such a “trusted” environment is a delicate matter and have you noticed, nobody wants to be the advertiser? Companies play the social networking game without pushing for consumption but to build goodwill. Goodwill increasingly stands in contradiction to push marketing as identifiable economic interest jeopardizes trust.

Facebook is now looking at monetizing the network in another way: a payment system where you buy coupons or chips or whatever the currency will be called to … play online. Social gaming is a fast growing industry and a cut on the gaming turnover looks like a lucrative alternative to advertising.

Facebook is not officially telling you to go gaming, however if you want to game on Facebook, you will pass through their bank to get the chips to play.

Obama and Sarkozy dream on!

Let the dreams come true and let’s just imagine and dream of the bright future. Here is what it could look like:

Facts: One of Facebook’s largest application developer Zynga reportedly makes some $100 Million a year on games, most from facebook applications. Some 42 Million active Facebook members play their games monthly, for example Poker. Zynga makes the money when people convert cash to chips and this is the market Facebook reportedly is interested in.

Suppose: Suppose a Casino with 42 Million monthly visitors! Facebook is the largest Casino and gamblig place in the world, it’s the largest tourist attraction in the world. Save on your ticket to Las Vegas and gamble on Facebook, convert your flight ticket to chips, protect the environment and Play from Home. Facebook, the largest gambling joint, what a great image.

Dream: Have you ever seen Obama or Sarkozy promoting their face in a Las Vegas or in a French Casino? No way! This would not be politically correct, or at least it was not up to now. But things have changes as promised by Obama: 6.5 million friends in the largest gambling joint worldwide that’s quite a performance and Facebook is aware of the “healing” impact of people, such as Obama, Federer, Sarkozy, reason why Facebook heavily promotes Celebrity pages.

Take it a step further and imagine that on poker cards you will find the faces of celebrities from Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez and from Paris Hilton to Gene Line. What, you don’t know Gene Line? It’s time you join Facebook to profit from the ultimate benefit Social Networks provide:

Improbable Matches

You will be in good company and you will meet at the gambling place anyone and anything: Hugo and Barack, Gene and Paris, Nicolas and Le Pen proving that John Lennon and Martin Luther King’s imaginative dreams come true. One had a dream, the other imagination: who would have thought that friends and enemies would at last find peacefully together and hold hands on one single table and who would have thought that the big reconciliation or that the big boat all are in is a gambling table?

The Romans were right: to keep people happy, give them Bread and Games.

I see the Games but I cannot find the Bread, at least not on people’s plates.

Game Over

When this morning on French TV, in the most popular Morning Show one of the moderators suggested to take off from Facebook pictures and personal info, it sure had a noticeable impact and I am sure that impact will be measurable. Worse, the presenter, Laura Tenucci (Laura du Web) tried to close her Facebook account. Opening an account is a matter of one minute. To closes it… she didn’t succeed during the show.

What makes the issue worse: even if you close your account, your information will not be erased. It’s going to remain there for ever waiting just for another security breach where all the logs of your closed account will become visible and accessible, why not by the Google search Engine.

This is not a Dream, it’s a Nightmare.