Facebook is too isolating

Meaning that although I have a blog and a profile outside of Facebook, I still need to maintain my Facebook activity and profile as the two are completely disconnected from each other, albeit the lonely link in my profile. True, you can import your RSS feed of your blog into Facebook. Whoopee. Thats not the point.

It is therefore no wonder that we sometimes feel like we are suffering from multiple personality disorder! I personally think that your blog that is in your control should be the starting point. Not any given social networking platform. The services these guys offer should be first seen on your blog. Not a Christmas tree widget in your sidebar which takes you to a profile with a lot of nonsense you’ve collected on another site where you have to build yet another profile!

This is part of what is so appealing of OpenID. It is one place I authenticate myself to. It makes registering simple with new services. It allows me to use my OWN blog as a delegate. A step in the right direction, me thinks. Would it not be kind of ideal to have Facebook features and applications on your blog? Interacting with other Facebook members’ blogs? I would think so. I’m not interested into going into the whole old worn-out discussion of “why we blog”. I’m just saying that it takes hard work and dedication to maintain one’s blog. Social Networking sites should compliment it, not dilute it as it do.

Is it so far fetched? No. Can it be done? Yes. Will it happen? We’ll have to wait and see, since something like this will have a serious impact on the revenue models of a lot of these guys.

I used Facebook as an example, but it is relevant to all social networking sites and services.

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2 Comments to "Facebook is too isolating"

• Charl van Niekerk » Blog: Distributed Social Services said: On 06/12/2007 at 8:02 pm

  [...] I am picking up similar vibes on Stii’s post Facebook is too isolating. [...]

• Social Networking » Blog Archive » Social Networking June 12, 2007 4:32 am said: On 06/26/2007 at 10:11 am

  [...] Facebook is too isolating Not any given social networking platform. The services these guys offer should be first seen on your blog. Not a Christmas tree widget in your sidebar which takes you to a profile with a lot of nonsense you?ve collected on another site … [...]

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Filed in: Blogging, Semantic Web, Social Web by: Stii