But we’re already asking what’s next … After all, before Facebook became large, MySpace was huge. I have wondered why we’re asking this question. After all, Google’s bigger than Facebook and has had an equally profound impact on us. But, people at dinner parties aren’t asking what comes after Google. I don’t get asked about the next big search engine at every conference I speak at.
After some thought I’m willing to argue that Google and Facebook are very different in terms of the impact they’re having. Google has democratized information. In earlier times, vast amounts of money have been made by people who knew something before the rest of the world. Today, in an era where the phrase, “information is power” has become a cliche, Google has done more than any other service to give people access to information. Think about it, text searches, image searches, maps, news …
Facebook’s impact is altogether different. Eben Moglen puts it best: we have lost our anonymity online. Every service preceding Facebook (myspace et all) have been leading up to this one point: each of us now has a permanent, online, identity.
Altogether means:
