SocialStartups.com

The NYTimes Magazine today has an article that is part criticism of the band Coldplay and part criticism of the MySpace design aesthetic. Definitely refreshing to see a major publication like the Sunday Times Magazine writing about the message that is imparted by design, the emotion it generates, and the conclusions one draws from design. Just one more example among many that what you see is just as important as what you get.

Mine is the 21,120,387th visit to Coldplay’s MySpace page. I am not greeted warmly. The British band — which is known for giant pop hits, a sheen of fakery and the marriage of its lead singer to Gwyneth Paltrow — does not exactly rush out to greet me. The page is rudimentary and indifferently decorated, like the apartment of four couchbound soccer addicts who barely look up when a girlfriend comes in.

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a few weeks now, and have finally decided to do so now that a number of posts are coming out about Facebook replacing email.

Facebook has the potential to replace a lot more than just email.

Facebook could be the next Internet platform. One built upon interconnected social networks.

How about:

• classifieds (Craigslist)
• used and new products (Ebay)
• personalized start pages (Netvibes)
• social bookmarking (del.icio.us)
• video (YouTube)
• news aggregators (Digg)
• search engines, except the one inside Facebook

That scares me. Why? Because it’s a black hole - what goes in doesn’t come out.

Data is everything. If you own it (and have a LOT of it), you have a HUGE advantage. Just look at what Amazon can do with it’s recommendations.

Social networks, because of the network effect, are winner take all markets. Move everyone to the platform, build all of the apps on top, add trust, filter out all of the crap/spam, and you’re left with an Internet sized bundle of content with nothing but good stuff.

Which is wonderful, except the lock-in part. Facebook shouldn’t own all of the data built on top of it.

Do you trust Facebook?

Friends, friendsters, and top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites

Great paper by the (quasi) famous danah boyd on the difference between being friends and being (MySpace) Friends.