It is thus far an unbeaten platform that has earned the mantle for bringing together communities and people from far and wide in to a ‘glocal’ landscape.
A phenomenon that has triggered a fresh way of connecting with people, cementing relationships, re-uniting lost kith and kin and altogether, kick-started an exciting wave in the arena of social networking itself.
Growing at a gargantuan pace over years, this phenomenon known as Facebook could easily be one of the largest countries in the world with 800 Million users; 350 Million of them accessing the service via Mobile devices. While I definitely admire this erstwhile startup powered by a college kid, does it have enough horse power to plough ahead and remain at the top end of the game?
Facebook of the then:
Recently, I was poring over an account of Facebook’s past which, in my opinion, is nothing short of inspiring. The company had its roaring success rooted in one critical factor – timing.
It rolled out at a time when the scenario was ripe for college students who wanted an exclusive place to hang out away from the ‘more chaotic’ environment that MySpace offered. Founded as a private network by Harvard alumni, Facebook soon spread its tentacles to other colleges and not to be restrained by any shackles, became the glue that started binding high school students as well.
It wasn't really a mind-boggling invention or a platform with captivating design or engineering. It was just a hangout that provided quality social engagement and connections. And when the world was pregnant with the heightened fervor for connecting with each other virtually, the floodgates were opened for Facebook; by Facebook.
Facebook of the now:
Facebook had 20 million new members per month on average joining it before May 2011 and recent figures show that the new member count monthly has dropped by a significant margin. The scorching global growth rate is being counter-balanced by user attrition especially in home country. A recent InsideFacebook posting pegged the number of US Facebook user losses at 6 MM in May 2011 while there were drop-outs in some other countries as well.
A little thought about possible reasons for this trend brings up the factor of ‘novelty loss’ in recent times with the proliferation of countless forms of ‘social’ mutations everywhere; be it Zyngas of the world or the latest ‘plus shot’ by Google at Social networking. Facebook has been rolling out a slew of features in the recent past which signals attempts at making the environment more vibrant and in turn creating a more ‘sticky’ experience.
Do you remember Facebook trying to be the default email client for Facebook members? Referred to as ‘Project Titan’ among Facebookers, it was a foray in to luring people away from their current email clients by providing them a Facebook email id. If you don't remember what I am alluding to here, do not be perturbed because Project Titan I do not think has made any titanic impressions on its users yet.
I am confident that many of you would have dabbled with Facebook Places and Deals. Places was a feature that allows Facebook users to ‘like’ a physical location they are currently at and ‘check-in’ to share that with fellow Facebook pals. And Facebook Deals was aimed at facilitating Offers and deals to the users on a pre-paid coupon service model and when users get a deal, a news story of the buy gets automatically triggered in the news feed. Both these products which were self-styled Foursquare and Groupon look-alikes failed to make any lasting impression with the ‘Facebook-topia’ and recently I heard that both these products are being phased out.
While Places was of some use to users with a large number of connections in a certain locale, majority of the users found this difficult to swallow. Deals also faced a similar fate whereby most of the deals were lack-lustre due to which the reception even while at the ‘beta’ state in San Francisco was anything by damp.
Facebook of the latter:
Foresight would have helped launch Facebook Groups and Lists much earlier (and made them a much larger success) because there was an inherent need in the evolving social interactions for classifying one’s connections in to various segments and being able to interact with each segment with a different set of ‘controls’. Google seems to have noticed this and launched the ‘Plus’ with ‘Circles’ already embedded within the fabric as I had mentioned in my last article. It was indeed quite surprising to observe the recent roll-out of Facebook Smart lists, that allows users to classify connections as ‘Close Friends’ and ‘Acquaintances’.
Some of the other attempts worthy of mention in the recent past include the Facebook Subscribe button that allows users to ‘subscribe’ to interesting people who are not friends and get your own subscribers as well. Does ‘Follow’ in Twitter strike a chord?
Yet another feature is the Skype integration which was just announced as if in response to the cool ‘Hangouts’ feature in Google which is much cheaper than Skype. Would you use ‘Skype with Facebook’? I wouldn’t!
Neither is there a satisfactory Facebook application for Tablet PCs which have become a revolution with the launch of iPad as well. And as if this weren’t enough, the Like button is going to have a ‘multiple-personality’ as well.
Reinventing Facebook:
All these attempts seem to signal a certain lack of organized and concerted effort along a well-planned out business road map and vision which is scarily reminiscent of the tangent that Yahoo gravitated towards since 2005. The erstwhile undefeated leader in the portal business and the coolest start-up in the Silicon-valley failed to recognize the fast changing online landscape with the emergence of a new breed of progressive and mature netizens and services to match them.
Why did Yahoo Groups not mutate and take shape of a future Facebook? Why did Yahoo Answers not reinvent itself to become Twitter? Why did Yahoo Videos not reinvent itself to become a YouTube? Yahoo continues to be a name in the industry which at least in my mind, does not have a clear persona for today or tomorrow but is making a weak attempt to live in the lost glory of the past.
In my opinion, Facebook is still a juggernaut and will continue to be for times to come. But whether it will remain an exciting phenomenon or whether it will become another Yahoo is heavily dependent on keeping the ears close to the ground and being well-prepared.
If they don't, someone else will.
