So you must have heard, facebook is said to take over the world, facebook will be the new internet. But did'nt we say similar things about the Internet itself at its inception? I assume we did. Postal departments all over the world protested the wrath of the e-mail and now the way we look at e-mail itself is said to change. Fmail seems like the most logical next step, I am continued to be impressed by this Harvard dropout. Just like most Indians my generation, I've always been loyal to Google and its million services and could've never imagined a life without my gmail id. My work email apart, there's no denying that most of the people using gmail today as a personal mail tool, have their inboxes cluttered with Facebook notifications. So where do you share photos? ideas? kickass quotes you come up with on the potty? an amazing article you have to share with friends? latest updates from your favorite product manufacturer? get together with old friends in various groups? Chat? Pretty much every part of your personal life which you would want to keep public, is on Facebook. So what do you use Gmail for again? err... umm... *awkward silence indeed*
I am guessing just a few tweaks like video chat, google docs and other services sync and a little time getting used to the idea in general is all it will take for Facebook to quite literally take over our lives. Do I mind it? Not really, because it makes perfect sense. As long as I am in control of my privacy settings and not being pushed into anything, it'll make life very convenient. Facebook certainly has become a default for finding people, you can't do that on Gmail. Quite ironical that you might still 'Google' the person in question and Google itself would direct you to the said person's Facebook page. Websites for small time manufacturers, marketing promotions, event promotions, wedding invitations, birthday parties etc etc which used to be such a fad back in the day is so passe now. What's the point of going through the hassle of creating a website and ultimately marketing that one link on Facebook? The audience does not want to be directed to a million different webpages which basically hold the same damn information! Solution: Facebook Page! From Madhuri Dixit to Ferrai, whatever interests you is on facebook. All you gotta do is 'like' the page! No more bookmarking URL's. Simple, plain and effective why? 500 million active users! You dont need to be a marketing guru to figure out where to make noise. It is sad how Google did not foresee this. To me personally, this definitely marks the downfall of the Search Giant, at least from the personal lives of the internet population. But I must say, Google has tremendous promise in becoming the most preferred client for professional mail, not anytime soon though what with the cloud still being 'not safe'.
All this got me thinking, what the hell? Ultimately I am being told what to do! I don't have a choice now, do I? Can I afford to not be on Facebook? No way! But why are we allowing it then? Because we asked for it. Because we asked for one genius to clear out the chaos and show us the right path. Corporate Anarchy I firmly believe is how all these giant wars are going to end. Just imagine what the world would be like if we had just a handful of companies, say four or five which would make everything for us, "simplifying" our lives. Corporate Governance would not be far either in that case. I am not saying one way is better over the other. Its merely an observation that Anarchy made perfect sense to man once upon a time, he fought wars for it and then realized Democracy is what makes more sense. Moving on, although Democracy did give us a lot... it created the chaos we are in today and that will continue to increase. Two Hundred years from today, all men will be equal, in race, religion, etc etc and how are we gonna get there? Anarchy it is! And if we survive, I guess the cycle of struggling for freedom shall prevail once more. Matrix, anyone?
P.S. For the uninitiated on the title, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook was prudent(?) enough to carry around a business card which read, "I'm CEO, bitch".
