Cory Doctorow and Facebook

It's not just Facebook and it's not just me. Every "social networking service" has had this problem and every user I've spoken to has been frustrated by it.

I think that's why these services are so volatile: why we're so willing to flee from Friendster and into MySpace's loving arms; from MySpace to Facebook. It's socially awkward to refuse to add someone to your friends list -- but *removing* someone from your friend-list is practically a declaration of war.

The least-awkward way to get back to a friends list with nothing but friends on it is to reboot: create a new identity on a new system and send out some invites (of course, chances are at least one of those invites will go to someone who'll groan and wonder why we're dumb enough to think that we're pals).

That's why I don't worry about Facebook taking over the net. As more users flock to it, the chances that the person who precipitates your exodus will find you increases. Once that happens, poof, away you go -- and Facebook joins SixDegrees, Friendster and their pals on the scrapheap of net.history.

Excerpt from :
CONTENT: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright and the Future of the Future
By Cory Doctorow

Available for free download at :
craphound.com/content/download

Author: Pesc Spad, for AZ10.com ~ 12 Oct 2009

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