James Galvin

I heard good things about Facebook and its open API, supposedly a major step in the evolution of social networking and the internet, but to me it feels like we’re going backwards. As I decline my 4th invitation to install the latest “Brain-guzzling Shoggoths” app added by an enthusiastic new Facebook user, I’m reminded of the old days - periodically changing my email addresses in order to escape from the mailing list of some vague acquaintances and their chain letters/campaigns to put an end to the horrors of Bonsai Kitten. Some time in 2005, the internet heaved a collective sigh of relief when people finally got the message and stopped forwarding on those “>>> 30 reasons why Jesus was Irish” mass-emails, and yet here I am bombarding my contacts with an invitation to Warbook - a scaled-down clone of those old webgames that I stopped playing eight years ago. 1997 has come back to haunt us. All we’re missing is Longwave Radio Atlantic 252 grinding out Mmmbop on loop. Shudder…

“It’s all about communication and interaction - you can keep in touch like never before”, they say. In 1997, we used to idle on IRC channels, occasionally slapping someone with a trout. These days, nobody even takes the courtesy to use a trout anymore. The only reason IRC is dying out is because you can’t advertise on it. I could be immersed in World of Warcraft, or some expansive telnet-based MUD from the 90’s, but instead I’m playing Duck Hunt in the browser window beside my profile. We have so many options for organised discussions, from powerful forum software to IRC and the likes of Tangler, but here we are restricting ourselves to 400 pixels of HTML tucked nicely above a big flashing ad banner.

It makes me wonder, will the novelty wear off, or is this the future? Back in the “beforetime”, people would speculate about the newest superchair with built in microwave-slash-toilet that allowed a user to control his entire life from the comfort of the living room. Now, as long as he keeps his profile up to date, he doesn’t even need to be himself anymore. The internet is a big place with some great applications, and we are too content to sit on the sofa.

Perhaps I’m missing out on something big, but for me, Facebook has only one major attraction - the ability to find and get back in touch with your former next-door neighbour’s pet goldfish. But, aside from a few gimmicky applications, is this any different from BeBo and all the rest?

The web was a more interesting place in 1997, when we all tried our best to make those Geocities templates work. We collected brightly flashing animated gifs to decorate the page - yes, it was ugly, but at least we were putting some thought into it! Facebook says you no longer need to make that effort. You paint yourself blue and white and line up along the wall with your copy of Scrabulous like everyone else. All together now:

“This is my profile. There are many like it but this one is mine. My profile is my best friend. It is my life.”

The social networks help people find each other, but it is the internet that brings them together. In the future, as open standards are further developed and syndication improves, I hope that there can be some engine that will reunite you with all your buddies, without requiring you to sell your soul to an advertising machine. We should be branching out to use the best software that is available to us for each task, rather than settling for primitive technology simply because it’s where our friends are.