I love the internet. I’m a child of the web 2.0. I’m obsessed with everything from social sharing, to aggregation, to RSS, to commenting and rating, to feeds, bookmarking and presence. I love it all.
However, I’m wishing that everyone I knew was on the same services as me. I wish every single person in the world was on the same blogging software. I want to “reblog” and stay on top of all my friends who use Wordpress and Blogger. I want every one of the blogs I read to use Disqus so that all my comments are all stored in one place. I want every possible way that I can listen to music to all be filtered to one Last.FM tracking device that everyone else uses so I can see what everyone I know is listening to and they can stalk me. I want everyone to be on Twitter. I want everyone to all be on Facebook and not any other social network. I want Yelp to be where everyone goes for reviews, and I want GamerDNA to be the place where everyone tracks their gaming time. I want Amazon to be “the place” to buy everything, and everyone makes wishlists there so I always know what to buy anyone for a gift. I want every video I view on the internet or on Netflix to all be in one stream.
And better yet, I want all of these things to WORK TOGETHER. I want to be able to turn on my TV and watch any video I’ve ever watched on the internet right there. I want to turn on my stereo and have access to every song I’ve ever listened to and be able to listen to any song anyone I know has listened to. I want one giant page of my life that everyone can comment on that has all my blog info, my work info (LinkedIn), my friends and commenting, my Twitter streaming, any music I’ve listened to or videos I’ve watched, any link that I like, any photo that I’ve uploaded anywhere. I want every site to connect to that global page, and be able to use the data. I want everyone on the web to be connected with one another, and not separate like they are now. I want to be able to talk with any of my friends on the internet regardless what game they’re playing in. I want all IM clients to talk to each other seamlessly.
Back in the day, everyone WAS all on the same network. Everyone’s only means of communication was through archaeic BBS systems and random newsgroups and everyone who was online was all in the same place. Interestingly enough, things started to spread out after more and more companies popped up offering services to start communities on the web. You had your Geocities and your Homestead, and your Yahoo! chat and games, and your AOL village that AOLites didn’t venture out of, and Napsters and Kazaas, and MySpace’s, and Friendsters and Facebook all locked down to colleges, and AOL messenger and Yahoo and MSN. I’ll never forget being on AOL and thinking that I couldn’t email anyone outside of AOL because they didn’t have the @aol.com email address. It was a vast and scary internet.
Fast forward to now. Services like FriendFeed try to aggregate all your social internet life into one massive stream. Applications are bridging social networks (like my company’s own – which ran on Facebook and MySpace). Google and Facebook are adopting standards that allow connection with other websites, a la OpenID. The popular IM clients are the ones who can connect with all the protocols. Sites like Twones that try to aggregate all the streaming music that you listen to all in one place. Firefox browser addons that try to bridge all the different sites you go to. Blogging standalone clients that let you post to multiple blogs simultaneously. Social network status updaters that let me set my Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace statuses all in one fell swoop. RSS readers that let you view all web content in one place and share it with others.
So what is it, mighty internet? Is it connection with the rest of the world and convenience that we relish? Or is the “carving out our own niche and community” factor of being able to do your own thing without any connection with the rest of your life? As much as I like the fight against the walled gardens of 1996, it sure did make my internet life a lot simpler and smaller.
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You are certainly right. The Internet is vast . It is a strength – it decentralizes things and keeps the Internet open. It provides us with huge amounts of information for us to access – and certainly there's almost a certain lifestyle that goes in with trying to really take advantage of that. Technology, like those you have described, allow us to tap into that with greater ease, providing a web experience that isn't quite like it use to be at all.
Actually, I would say that this is much like the evolution of vehicles in human history. People were usually stuck in small villages with little ways of getting around – and certainly not far. Yet, now with cars, planes, etc… all in common use, we can travel about the world – we aren't “stuck” with that one community around our local area.
In a lot of ways though, I think it really is an issue of choice. I'm pretty sure I could wall myself in. Pick a single IM client I like, pick a few sites to follow, ignore social networks – or just use them simply and casually. A lot of people do that. The important thing here, is that you're really making that choice to take it all in, to truly embrace the possibilities that the web offers.
It's the paradox of choice, we simply have too many options to choose from which all of them does nearly the same thing. Now only if we had a communist system…. (which in all truth, it would be akin to “web standards” and would work well).
Hm… I suppose that depends. If we were stuck with a single set of options, then the Internet becomes depressingly easy to regulate and control. Then again, that might depend on what you mean, exactly.
Aggregation under one banner stifles innovation. If everyone is using service XYZ, then who will create the Next Big Thing when they have to up against the industry leader? We see it today, with the same consequences: iPod, WoW, etc. These dominate their respective niches and while others seek to get their slice of the pie (and may do well enough to make a few waves), what products can make a dent in their market share? Others have tried, some with real innovation, but when the world unofficially agrees to a de-facto standard, you have to take what you're given because if you step outside what everyone else is doing, you're now isolated.
If there's anything that the Internet teaches us, it's that people cannot agree except to disagree. You may be able to give 100 reasons why X is better then Y, but I can give 100 reasons why A is better then X. The days of “you can have it in any color, as long as it's black” are over.
This is an interesting conversation. I still now that I prefer the web now to the web 10 years ago, but I still wonder what my internet life would be like if things were simple again.
Probably not as fun!
Fun post. Aren't you from Minnesota? If so, you should really mention Gopher so the old-school folks at home don't get upset.