Social Networking and its Failure

Date: October 1, 2007
Time: at 10:44 pm
Posted in: in blogging, future, standards, web development
Comments: Comments (0)

Let’s take a trip back in time. The year is 2003 and the internet is a rather pleasant place to be, although looking back we wouldn’t make that claim. Myspace and Facebook didn’t exist and half of the world didn’t visit them at least once per day. No one knew what AJAX was let alone used it on their websites. Flash-driven websites were the “cool thing to do.” But most importantly, the idea of using the internet as a “platform” and the convergence of technologies was near non-existent.

Then this whole concept of Web 2.0 came along and everyone was confused about what it really meant. People claimed that their websites were Web 2.0 and companies even dedicated their so-called services to help people make their websites Web 2.0 compatible. Some people even jumped the gun and claimed that Web 3.0 exists.

The change that happened in late 2004 when people started really understanding what the Web 2.0 concept was all about. It was about convergence of internet technologies and using the internet as a platform for full applications. Instead of running a program on your computer, why not run that program on the internet where you can have access to it from anywhere you go?

To be honest, if we’re still dealing with desktop environments on our computers in 15 years, I’ll be surprised. Your entire desktop environment will be web based and you’ll have access to it from anywhere, but your files and documents will be stored locally for safety. You won’t be putting in a CD to listen to music, you’ll be using a music subscription service to listen to anything you want. You’ll have access to anything from anywhere at any time. All of your devices will work together, and all websites will be able to communicate and share information with one another.

And here is where I think Social Networking sites have failed. Their very idea in concept form is awesome. If we can connect technologies, why don’t we connect people together from all over? Let’s create a social map of the world on the internet. However, what social networking sites have lost sight of is that the whole point while doing these things is to converge technologies. With their immense popularity, their potential to drive forward convergence of web technology is just as immense. Why haven’t they taken advantage of it?

Picture this: Instead of you needing to upload photos of yourself to MySpace or Facebook, why not allow you to associate your MySpace account with your Flickr account? What if I could send an email to someone but I didn’t know their email address? What if I could use the information about that person I did know to send them an email? What if I could fully control each and every one of my accounts without even needing to launch a browser? And what if I could update all of my accounts at the same time with the same information?

The possibilities are endless. AJAX is only one very small part of the concept of Web 2.0. AJAX is the User Interface side of the vision of convergence of technology, not the convergence itself.

Social networking sites have failed at what could have been (and what still could be if they play their cards right) an awesome breakthrough in web technology and even your computing experience as a whole. MySpace and Facebook are right now just a place to “hang out” and post silly surveys. They each let it come to that, when it fact it could have been a complete portal to socialization and conversation and the computing experience as a whole.

Is technology becoming too widespread?

Date: September 12, 2006
Time: at 11:13 pm
Posted in: in future, technology
Comments: Comments (2)

This idea was brought on by some problems that I encountered in my Calculus class. The teacher does the normal in class lecture, gives tons of examples, is very good at explaining concepts and answering any/all questions. Overall, an aboslutly excellent teacher.

But she insists on using a web-based homework system. Basically, you create the account, select your school, class, and teacher, and off you go with premade questions by this third-party mathematics site (which will go unnamed at this point). Not only is this completely moving away from the typical homework that I’m so used to, but it brings up other complications.

For one thing, this paticular website accepts one answer, and one answer only. Basically, everything has to be perfect or you’re out of luck. No accidental typos, no improper forms, nothing. In the past, my teachers graded my homework with common sense. I could make a simple mistake and lose a point or two–half credit or one-forth credit. All my math teachers in the past have accepted square roots in the denominator of a rational. Not this online system.

Now, I don’t have too much of a problem with this since it is proper mathematical notation. However, what about when the server goes offline the night before everything is due? Yes, that is, indeed, what I’m faced with at this very moment. The server is down and I can’t get in to finish some last minute stuff which I otherwise had plenty of time to do.

Regardless, I’m a bit frustrated at this point. But it brought up an interesting point. As you all are probably aware, I’m a major advocate for technology and technological improvements. But is there a point where it hurts more than it helps? That’s the question at hand.

In all honesty, yes. I don’t care how well you program a computer. It still will never be able to use common sense or know for a “fact” what you meant to do. It’s not able to make decisions based on this logic. This doesn’t apply to just homework grading, though, but to every area. Computers in cars making decisions for us? Medical computers? The list goes on and on.

All in all, why can’t we just use old-school techniques which are just efficient that have been used for hundreds of years? I like writing and seeing stuff on paper. Always have, always will.