Facebook Smacked in the Face(book)
The last couple of months have not been kind to Facebook. First, the Open Social API challenged their application dominance when Google announced it last month with 40 some odd partners in tow. Second, the Beacon fiasco made Facebook look really bad (zits) when Facebook began to presume for its users - always a rookie dumb mistake - made by a lot wiser companies than this young social puppy. Then a couple of days ago,LinkedIn announced that they were releasing an API for application developers to glam up their social site (and they were going to change the look and feel too) - and this is the same Linkedin (along with MySpace et. al.) that's already a member of the OpenSocial API "club."
Anecdotally, I've noticed a major upsurge in Linkedin and Plaxo activity in the last few weeks - and it is a significant increase - all in all telling me that Facebook is starting to lose some luster - starting, mind you, (do you mind?). Their fair hair has gone from facial to well, we won't say in this incredibly family oriented blog entry.
So what does Facebook do to counter this. They announce a couple of days ago that they are going to license their API to other sites, a la the Open Social API. The claim is that this is another step in their "vision of easy, open sharing of information." Shurrrrrrrrrrre.
A few months ago, when Facebook announced the ability of application developers to write apps to their site - and in the ensuing explosion of growth that Facebook had - I said that they would become truly dominant if they white labeled their platform - and that's exactly what they're doing.
But circumstances have changed. If they did that before all the events of the last two months, their forthcoming battle with Google and team would have been a formidable one. But because they are defensively responding to a relentless assault and making mistakes that are pretty damned dramatic and very damned stupid, they are not in a position to fight for dominance - they are going to be fighting for maybe not survival, but for maintaining an shred or ten of their enormous promise.
Does this mean I'm down on Facebook? No. They are a viable social platform that has been smart enough to provide a locale where I can conduct business with my clients and still superpoke them or write on their walls - while maintaining at least a facade of professionalism. That's actually really, really important as a microcosmic reflection on how social networking has the opportunity to make customer-company collaboration more effective and advocacy more natural than ever before. Potential is what I'm talking about though. By no means is Facebook anywhere near realizing this kind of potential and may not even be the paradigm shifter a la Microsoft or salesforce.com. They may only be the harbinger of it all - the stars in the First Act, Second Scene, but maybe not the rest of the musical comedy. Let's listen to the rest of the songs, pay attention to the lyrics and see if Facebook can send us out of the theater singing. If not, not. Someone else is always there, and Facebook needs to KNOW that.
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