Facebook’s open graph, good or evil?
Facebook has proved its mettle again as wunderkind of the social web by announcing an open graph protocol which will see all websites socially enabled. Announced at its F8 conference the new Facebook Platform connects with third-party sites so that all integrated sites can be socially recommended, creating instant personalisation. In other words, they’ve created a “like” button for the internet.
The web community is still absorbing the full implications of an open web with Facebook at its centre. Reactions range from expressions of privacy breach, to adulation and enthusiasm for new opportunities for a social web.
Do you think Facebook’s Open graph is essentially a good or a bad thing? Vote on the poll below.
I’m still undecided on the issue, so I’ve summarised some points below for both arguments, in as simple terms as I could manage:
The ‘good’s
-
This allows for a personalised, social web where sites are instantly tailored to you and your networks’ experiences
-
You are more relevant than ever, with your social recommendation validating any product or service available
-
From the get-go, they’ve licenced the Platform with The Open Web Foundation - a non-profit dedicated to the development of open and non-proprietary online protocols. (i.e. the community is able to share, update and distribute)
-
The data that would be collected increases the amount of semantic data available
-
Developers can create a whole new level of services based on this unprecedented amount of semantic data available
-
This creates a new level of user engagement for advertisers and marketers, as product and service pages are integrated into the social graph
The ‘evil’s
-
Facebook collects your new data and owns all of it (in theory do to with as they please)
-
You are forced to have a Facebook account to be part of a web-wide phenomenon, Facebook becomes the single point of entry.
-
You are more than your Facebook identity, and it shouldn’t be the only representation you have online
-
Different online profiles are meant for different uses, and for some people, needs to present a different personality. Facebook’s open graph forces you to consolidate your identity to a single, superficial recommendation machine
-
This creates a new level of user engagement for advertisers and marketers, as product and service pages are integrated into the social graph
-
Your recommendation is rendered (and has been for a while really) to a commercial and commodified exercise
So, do you think I should I implement the new “Like” button in my blog?
2 Responses to “Facebook’s open graph, good or evil?”
April 24th, 2010 saat: 7:06 pm
“Like” this.
April 27th, 2010 saat: 12:14 pm
Hmm, it’s not a bad idea - provided they’re not sharing personal information with those websites that choose to integrate the protocol.
A major un-addressed evil of Facebook is its locked-in nature. There are precious few ways to get your data out of the site if you want to.
Leave a Reply