I didn’t score that high on my verbal SATs but I think I can manage
a simple analogy here. Coffee:Social Networking :: Starbucks:Facebook.
Why do we love Facebook? It’s not because you can poke someone on
the other side of the world. It’s not because for months you’ve been
able to plant a comical or raunchy bumper sticker on your friend’s
wall. And it’s certainly not because you can view advertisements that
“magically” speak to your exact age and music tastes.
We love Facebook because we are naturally vain creatures! We love
reconnecting with every name we’ve ever come in contact with and
watching our friends count grow by the hundreds. We love filling out
our profile with bands that show how cool we are or quotes that
demonstrate our intellectual depth. We love that fuzzy feeling when
someone writes on our wall (isn’t that why we initiate the conversation
on someone else’s wall to begin with!?). And we definitely can’t wait
to open up that picture that was just tagged of us - even if we untag
it immediately because we look fat or possessed.
The original Facebook was about us. It was our platform to make
ourselves look however stylish/ smart/ talented/ contemporary/
friendly/ professional/ original/ single/ in-a-relationship that we
wanted to. Facebook was the tool. We were the artists.
The new Facebook is about how stylish/ smart/ talented/
contemporary/ friendly/ professional/ original that the creators of
Facebook are. Facebook has become the artist. And every time I’ve
signed on since the “facelift,” I feel like the tool.
Starbucks had an amazing business growing from just its simplest
offering - consistently good coffee. Then the corporate office’s head
got bigger than a venti and as we all know, the buck isn’t stopping
there like it used to.
Mark (Zuckerberg) my words, Facebook’s fate is soon to follow…
Agree of disagree?
