When facebook started out, in its geeky yet cool way of connecting college kids to one another, I stood up and paid attention. Sure, we had seen the Friendsters of the world come and go, but here, I think, was a truly novel concept: a walled social networking site that informed you about the goings on at your school. I think back to my college days, with no internet, barely computers, and just your face to face social scene and think "wow", what a difference a facebook would have made. A yearbook come to life, and, better yet, a record of that time (which, granted for me, remains foggy....).
And then they moved to including high schools. Even better, I think! And so fun, in an era of adolescence where it really does matter how one feels that day, how it would be cool to poke someone you don't know, to flirt, to organize, and all in the safety of your own school zone.
And the capitalist in me is thinking - wow, you have these kids, this perfect demographic to advertise to... this is gonna be huge! You can follow these guys through life, give linkedin.com a run for its money, etc.
Then it opened up to everyone. Now all the fun "poking" and "throwing sheep" around on the site is suddenly open from just kids to my 54 year old uncle, and he can tell my mom about my wild weekend pics, and ... well, so what, it is still really just for the kids, right?
But then facebook is open to the general search world, and profiles can show up in search results. Hmmm.. now my 4 year old profile of when I was in college can be seen by my boss - since I am now in the real world, and not in college anymore. Not so cool, Facebook. Some older members even start deleting their profiles (is that even really possible?), or making it all very private, or maybe now I have 4000 friends and family members who can poke, superpoke, or tell me to download the newest, coolest facebook app that I just need to use!
And the newer users, those excluded from the "cool" college site, now get to wander into this formerly exclusive world of mine, and they find a world that can't quite figure out.... Seems like friendster, but on some kind of weird college vibe, still talking about poking, and being in class, and so on... And I keep having random people ask to be my friend, but they are in high school, or are really old, or are really young. And the newest, coolest apps don't work on my Mac. And do I really care how my friends are "feeling" today? That so and so can't wait to get a massage? That my friend in London is "psyched for the weekend"? Have they all reverted to being 18-22 year olds, instead of serious professionals? Have they swallowed a collective amount of Koolaid and are in some nether world where "contemplating my touch Ipod" is somehow important?
Facebook, you have come a long way. You are valued by "the market" at some ridiculous billion dollar mark. And you keep opening up the tent, letting more people in.... But my guess is, your active users are leaving once they realize they can never be kids again, and that by using your site they are simply acting like the kids they once were, or wanted to be.
And it is frankly a bit pathetic. Or maybe I am just old!
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