It’s a small world on the World Wide Web, and it’s about to get smaller. Be on the lookout for Facebook’s little ‘Like’ button popping up across the internet just as mold spores sprout on an oversized loaf of bread. IMDb, CNN, ESPN, New York Times, ABC-TV, Yelp, Levi-Strauss, no doubt countless musicians’ websites, and a boat-load of other sites will each house the Like button for every page and article contained within. This will allow readers to express their tastes, somewhat crudely, with the click of a button for the many, many entries found on the web. In return, Facebook in collaboration with these websites will collect this data and create an ever-growing map of these tastes across the Internet. Facebook will also offer an extension of its interface to some of the biggest websites, which will allow a viewer to keep up to date with friends without having to leave the page of interest.
In effect, this all adds up to the web coming one step closer to being a ubiquitous social network where information is gathered not by its mass appeal and pertinence, but by who you know. For example, if I want to know whether or not it’s worth checking out Polanski’s new and perhaps last flick, Ghost Writer, I can simply search for the latest reviews, or I can check out how many of my trusty friends Like it and any reviews they have posted on it. (I can even check a site like IMDb and see how many Facebook users in total Like the movie.) Yes, this is information filtered through friendship and a little thumb’s up, which in some nerd-circles is being touted as Web 3.0. Facebook’s branching out, of course, butts head-to-head with Google’s search dominancy. Google, tugging nervously at its collar, has already jumped on board the social-network band wagon with its Buzz as it has had great difficulty making Facebook, MySpace, and other social-networking websites content easily searchable. The closest Google has come to achieving this effect is with the incorporation of up-to-date Twitter streams (‘tweets’ for the laymen) into its searches. Only time will tell whether or not Google has something truly to fear in Facebook. One valuable asset the latter company lacks is a useful email client, which, besides its search engine, is Google’s present powerhouse.
Of importance, we must ask ourselves how narrow and informative of a search we can acquire through our friends. Sure, I get great results when I check Facebook for info on the blockbuster Kick Ass, but do I really trust my friends or general Facebook users to have the best and latest info on the topic of neurogenesis. Will they even point me in the right direction? Still, it would be nice to have a friend’s opinion pop up when the search is relevant. But, then we have to ask ourselves how many of our Facebook friends are actually our friends, and how many of them have opinions we trust? Be honest. So, in that case, do we really want to be privy to all these people’s tastes? And lastly, do I want my future employer being able to dig up every article I have ever Liked, including that one on the raunchiest strip clubs in Montreal? By integrating personal and profile information into third party sites, as Facebook will now do, this becomes a pertinent issue for our privacy.
Cheers,
Charlie Inkblot
