Facebook vs the Open Web

Lots of discussion this week around Facebook vs the Open Web.

Colin Walker:

The sad thing is that most don’t care about the open web or about content longevity.

Colin reiterates that most people don’t care about all this open web nonsense. They just want to find and interact with their friends. I agree with him.

However, just because a lot of people don’t care about something doesn’t make it unimportant. The open web is important.

Walker again:

Ephemera has taken over because most aren’t creating anything that needs to be retained beyond the context of the current conversation.

Much of Facebook is useless chit chat that no one will miss when it’s gone. Still, I believe it is a mistake to think that we already know what should be retained for future generations. And in Facebook’s case, nothing is retained for future generations.

Of course we don’t need everything, but there are too many babies being thrown out with all that bathwater; deliberately, unnecessarily, and for the wrong reasons.

Many will just move on, but I intend to keep helping people care about the open web and its preservation, even if it sometimes feels like a lost cause.

Ref: Gruber, Winer, Hewitt.