Re: Federation protocols

On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 4:40 PM, Simon Tennant <simon@buddycloud.com> wrote:

> On 31 May 2013 16:28, Michał 'rysiek' Woźniak <rysiek@fwioo.pl> wrote:
> > Anyway, my point is that this idea that a one-size-fits-all protocol just
>
>>  > doesn't work. We've tried it. Federating a bunch of social networks
>> that
>> > aren't solving a real user need (beyond privacy) is an exercise in
>> protocol
>> > masturbation rather than solving real problems and therefore have a
>> chance
>> > of being adopted.
>> >
>> > I wish the world was otherwise. It's not and usually I find it easier to
>> > change my approach than try to make the entire world change for me.
>>
>> Well, the same was said about MySpace several years ago. And before that,
>> Geocities. Remember those? Users flock and change services from time to
>> time.
>> The time users move off of Facebook is drawing near and we really *should*
>> have something to offer.
>>
>
> What do you think the reasons for Facebook's success were? Why did users
> leave Myspace for Facebook?
>
>
I think people left Myspace for two reasons. One technical reason I think a
lot of people were prompted to leave Myspace was that it was buggy as all
hell and there was a clear alternative (Facebook) that offered a solution
to the exact pain point - which was a clean, uniform, interface. Also,
Myspace started to completely change their UI which alienated a lot of
users.

That said, Facebook would have never been perceived as an alternative
unless thousands of college age kids didn't already have accounts there,
making the switch more attractive.

In addition, remember Friendster? It was actually (if I remember correctly)
much less buggy than Myspace, but as a friend summed it up one night in
2003 over beers "people on Myspace are hotter". So, Myspace was the hip
place to be, friendster was stuffy and too genuine/corny.

These are all social tastes, not technical. Facebook was clean and less
buggy - that was a nice change, but it was the mass of college age kids
that made it a viable alternative.

That's the way I saw it anyway