Facebook Continues to Sail Its Own Little Web
Facebook took another step toward creating its own version of the web yesterday. The social platform announced integration with Live Search. Now, in addition to searching Facebook, users can search the web. The results are displayed right within the Facebook chrome, giving a seamless user experience.
Unfortunately, in the name of everything looking like Facebook, the company would like to actually make everything Facebook. When it launched its innovative platform perfectly good website ideas instead became Facebook applications–they were joining Facebook’s own little web.
It’s like Facebook is a cruise ship. There’s a facsimile of everything you’re used to getting elsewhere. It is easy to enjoy the many Facebook-approved activities. But the Facebook ship never docks at any ports of call. You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave.
Some might say Facebook attempted to interact with the web as a whole with Beacon. The service brings non-Facebook actions, such as making a purchase at Amazon, into the Facebook world. There were privacy issues there.
One of my problems with Facebook’s approach is that its uni-directional. The regular web is being pulled to Facebook, rather than Facebook giving to the web.
In that sense, it’s possible that Facebook is trying to give some love to the web by incorporating search results. Maybe. The same way there is an older generation who thinks Yahoo is the internet, Facebook is more likely continuing its case to the younger generation that it is the internet.
I want the real internet to be the internet. I want it open and interconnected and owned by everyone. I don’t want “internet lite“.
A cruise may be nice for a week, but when it just keeps going it may be time to ask Captain Zuckerberg for some shore leave.
[Original ship image by Bruce Tuten]
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