Then came Facebook. Clean, white, easy to handle, no leaving an html mess that you lie yourself into thinking that you'll take care of it next time. Friends are filed like library books and you know what they're up to by simply looking at your life stream. Piece of cake. Peace of mind. The easy-to-network social network was born for good.
That was before the whole Facebook hysteria started. Since its opening to the public, and the development of its impressively clever organic growth model, there's one thing that has changed friends-to-friends relations on the social network: the growing monopoly of apps over our interactions.
Basically, nobody wants to suscribe to tons of apps because it just messes up the simplicity and loading time of your profile. You've got to be selective and go for the right apps. Now when you receive a message from a friend you haven't heard from in a long time... But wait, not a message, rather a:
Dear victim, You have been bitten by Justine! Click the 'Start Biting Chumps' button to become a Vampire and start biting other chumps! You can also fight other Zombies, Vampires & Werewolves now!No. I'm sorry but no. Don't wanna be a vampire.
Now you have to add an app to answer a question, add an app to share a photo, add an app to say hi, add an app for everything. It's only the beginning. App startups are all over the place trying to get a piece of the cake. Most of them don't even know how to make money on Facebook, they just figure that if they have a lot of users, they'll find something profitable to do with such a valuable database. That's the whole spirit of the bubble 2.0.
Back to my point: Now I don't respond directly to app-invites. If I really want the person to know that I care even though I disregarded their lame app-friendship, I'll go write a little "hey what's up" on their wall. However, how many times am I not gonna do that before definitely losing contact.
Step by step, apps are settling as unavoidable third-parties in our relationships. Will it separate us by a thin app layer and let the magnificient Facebook divide et impera?
I don't think so. My opinion: If Facebook doesn't review the app economy it has designed for its organic growth, it will suffer the same fate as Second Life: Deserted Lands, abandonned businesses, lies of crooks who pretend that the business is good there, sex shops, gambling, and sometimes a fresh new member who's already irritated by the complicated usability of the platform.
