Facebook: the new data black hole
Oh, my.
I added the WordPress Facebook Application a few days ago. Now my blog, and your comments, are showing up on my Facebook Profile Page. Along with my Twitters. My Flickr photos. My Google Reader items. My Kyte videos. And a bunch of other things.
Jeremiah Owyang is sitting here with me and he’s the one who said it’s a black hole after seeing how Facebook is becoming the new portal for all information you post around the Web. He wrote a post titled “all your widgets are belong to Facebook.”
Other evidence that Facebook is a black hole, sucking stuff into it: They just acquired Parakey, a stealth-mode startup started by Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, two former Firefox geeks.
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July 19th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Another concern, apart from my post is that these third party developers (like the wordpress one) now have access to your blog, and they are not affiliated with wordpress.
What’s stopping them from doing something devious? slipping in some light SEO code? or putting up a goatze?
On the other hand, when I see several of my friends using one application (and facebook is great for that) my level of trust goes up, as I see my peers using it.
Trade offs either way.
July 19th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I’m still not getting why people insist that facebook, as a platform, is a “closed system”, am I missing something???
A)anyone can develop apps on said system, no need for authorization
B)anyone can access information from their users and display it on an external site, of course not all-data is available, but that would make no sense because of the privacy issues
There are certain parts of FB that of course aren’t open (like the user’s profiles outside of FB)but that’s FB the site, not FB the platform.
Jeremiah: I don’t know how that wordpress app is implemented, but if it’s just crawling the feed of your blog it can’t really write anything on it or access any information that isn’t already public. The developer could however “put up a goatze” on your profile box, but that’s as far as it gets (I realize it would be pretty bad, but I guess you should only install apps if you trust the developer as on any system). As for SEO code, first I don’t think google indexes or could index user’s profiles and also FB caches anything that goes on the profile boxes so they wouldn’t allow it).
peace,
mario romero
July 19th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
This is interesting. Wondered something similar when i hooked up WP this morning. I wonder if we have to think about horizontal social networks, such as FB as aggregators, and vertical networks such as WP, or Lending Club, as capabilities that folks will pull into their horizontal networks. I’ll stop there before my brain explodes.
July 19th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
[...] he says Facebook is a black [...]
July 19th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Oh my god! Facebook again, you should working for Facebook, I think.
July 19th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
“Oh my god! Facebook again, you should working for Facebook, I think.”
Yeah, I miss the Robert Scoble that went on a no “GYM” binge and pointed out that Techmeme tends to aggregate popular/press release stories over the little guy.
At least he straight up admits that he plans to talk about Facebook and the iPhone as much as he wants. On the bright side, it’s there are PodTech videos thrown in the mix.
Basically, Scobleizer@Microsoft > Scobleizer@Podtech.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black whole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
July 19th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Mario
The wordpress app requires you to login to your wordpress account from their app. This means they know your wordpress account info.
This means they could modify your blog on wordpress (outside of Facebook)
It’s a semi-closed systems, you can build on top of Facebook, but they still retain a tremendous amount of data you can’t easily export. Be sure to read my post that Scoble linked to.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
heh. just saw this a few minutes ago; added links back to you + Jeremiah + Duncan Riley on my Facebook isn’t AOL, it’s Visual Basic post from earlier this evening.
guess we’re all drawing the Facebook = Microsoft analogy, especially those of us who used to drink the MSFT developer koolaid :)
those were the daze, eh Robert?
(the SDForum Visual Basic SIG still lives on in a special little place in my Borg heart ;)
- dave mcclure
http://500hats.typepad.com/
July 19th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
The WordPress app in Facebook is in an iframe. At no point does Facebook ever get your WordPress.com username and password.
If you login at wordpress.com and then go to the app you’ll skip the app login page entirely.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Dave: great blog post, thanks, I put it on my link blog. I have a special place in my heart for the Visual Basic SIG, too. One speech there has made me more than $100,000 so far.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Robert,
Just read your blog comment on techcrunch. Why do people think it is all hype… guess they have not used facebook and can’t “get it”…
As you said…. Siemens doe s not have thousands of people on facebook if there is no value. ;)
July 20th, 2007 at 1:17 am
Rumford: a couple people admitted at the conference today they are dragging their feet because they are tired of trying to keep up with everything new.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:31 am
More evidence that FB is a Black Hole.
Nothing escapes.
FB is hidden behind the login wall. It has almost no RSS. There’s no way to export anything about your friends. And so on.
July 20th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Yup. I talked about this a month ago or so.
http://tinyurl.com/yqbetp
It’s not just Facebook you know. Closed data silos are something we’ve had for years which is why FB doesn’t excite me.
July 20th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Steven: Facebook isn’t your father’s closed silo, though.
But, no problem, you’ll get dragged into Facebook eventually even if you resist.
July 20th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Robert - i’m already dragged in (it actually reminds of of Ecademy when i used to use that) :)
I DO like the idea - but i’m not convinved it’s a platform as such. I like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Internet Service Bus, OpenID etc - those would be my service platform.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:22 am
Joseph
Thanks, just for clarity, (read my comments carefully) I was suggesting that the third party application creator to WordPress has access to Scobleizer.com.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:56 am
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 6:11 am
[...] both Robert Scoble and Jeremiah Owyang are concerned that Facebook is a black hole of data - it all goes in, but [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 6:31 am
[...] Robert Scoble and Jeremiah Owyang are making this claim. I agree that Facebook doesn’t let data out, but is [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Ok, I smell scobie got some juicy offer for IPO stock from facebook and he is contributing to the hype.
Say it ain’t so rob?
July 20th, 2007 at 6:38 am
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 9:22 am
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 11:29 am
[...] are: when will facebook synch up with LinkedIN? And is facebook the internet equivalent of a ‘Black Hole’? Apparently so, according to Robert Scoble. Perhaps that’s why I’m feeling the [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 11:48 am
[...] all as Robert’s data gets sucked into the black hole of Facebook he writes off Microsoft as any force to be reckoned with in this brave new shiny world [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I don’t know. For me, too many options and too many apps confined in one space. I don’t like being stuck in a closet full of widgets. RSS and tags already bridges me to content that I want, links me to niche experts and relevant conversations.
But then, I’m not an early adapter; and perhaps I will ‘get it’ in a few years when the other 900 million people on the Internet do.
All the best
Tom
July 20th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Todays Tech Notes 7/20/2007
Digital DNA could finger Harry Potter leaker A few lines of ‘digital DNA’ could allow the publishers of Harry Potter to find and finger the person apparently responsible for leaking the final adventures of the boy wizard.
Opera Software Op…
July 20th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I love Facebook. And I am getting overwhelmed by all these new apps. Regarding the WordPress app, I was already feeding my posts into my profile page, so I am not sure about the difference with the new app. I guess it makes it easier for people to leave comments?
marguerite
http://lamarguerite.wordpress.com
July 20th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
So what was the old data black hole
July 20th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
[...] Facebook: the new data black hole Oh, my. I added the WordPress Facebook Application a few days ago. Now my blog, and your comments, are showing up on my […] [...]
July 20th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
#30: Pointcast?
July 20th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
[...] can you recover? If Facebook is a black hole then anything you’ve contributed solely within their world is now inaccessible. Facebook, [...]
July 21st, 2007 at 7:53 am
[...] Robert Scoble’s view, who sees Facebook as a ‘data black hole’: I added the WordPress Facebook Application a few [...]
July 21st, 2007 at 8:28 am
I’m pretty much naive when it comes to FB because I don’t like the lack of control it gives the user. I signed up for an account more than a year ago at this point and I think I’ve been on there all of two times. But this obviously is a concern especially when it comes to how much privacy you can setup.
July 21st, 2007 at 8:29 am
Horrible spelling above ^^
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:38 am
[...] cette acquisition signifiait pour Facebook au sense large. Robert Scoble affirme que Facebook est la nouvelle bête noire des informations personnelles, en précisant que beaucoup de ces applications web favorites sont sur [...]
July 24th, 2007 at 5:43 am
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
July 25th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Check out the terms of service and be afraid (blogged it here)
August 1st, 2007 at 1:10 pm
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black whole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:33 am
[...] dat ik al snel onder de indruk raakte van de mogelijkheden die Facebook biedt, en kan ik me het enthousiasme van mensen als Robert Scoble dan ook helemaal voorstellen: je shared items uit GoogleReader, [...]
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]
August 6th, 2007 at 7:54 am
[...] Facebook as a more updated version of the AOL walled garden and others such as Jeremiah Owyang and Robert Scoble calling it a black hole because all your data goes in but there’s no RSS [...]
August 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
[...] Scoble: Facebook–the new data black hole [...]
August 6th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
[...] Scoble: Facebook–the new data black hole [...]
August 15th, 2007 at 7:29 am
[...] Data Concerns Data is power, so this is an area or intense scrutiny, we’ve suggested that Facebook is a black hole, but it appears that they are opening up so some data can be returned. On a personal onlie [...]
October 1st, 2007 at 3:07 am
[...] Facebook: the new data black hole « Scobleizer [...]
December 19th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
It seems like there are more facebook widgets and applications than there are grains of sand in the oceans. The more you add, the more information gets added to your page and at an increasing rate. Pretty soon they’re going to run out of places to store all the information.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:50 am
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook inthe broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are nowappearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to become [...]
June 5th, 2008 at 8:52 am
[...] been said on what the acquisition means for Facebook in the broader sense. Robert Scoble says that Facebook is the new data black hole, noting that many of his favorite apps are now appearing on Facebook. Facebook is starting to [...]