As If Facebook Didn't Connect Us Enough

Facebook has come a long way since its humble inception. I remember when people here at St. Edward's (myself included) were quite irate that we weren't an official Facebook school. This was way back in 2004, when really only major universities were on the Facebook network. Flash forward to nearly four years later, and its hard to imagine a network Facebook hasn't invaded. Practically every school in America is included, most major metropolitan areas, and I'm sure people on the moon could have an account if they reeeaaallly wanted one. We have pokes, Super pokes, pokes that rent us Blockbuster movies, and we can see updates to when our friends brush their teeth. So the next logical step in Facebook's digital takeover was a logical one: chat.

Chat? Really? That was the best they could do? I had that idea about three years ago. Now, my digital generation is a little different than the one that is constantly importing Soulja Boy videos like nobody's business. We grew up on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). I remember the days of signing on for hours and hours as I thought of clever quotes to add to my profile, while at the same time changing my away message to show what song I was currently listening to. And of course there was blocking, chat rooms, program bots and a slew of other ridiculously stupid functions that I wasted most of my teenager years on. We didn't have Facebook, we didn't have Myspace, hell, hardly any of us even had broadband connections! (I shake my fist at you 56k!) But regardless of how basic these internet connections were, it fostered an interesting community of social media. It was a way to connect to people that we had never experienced. It was new, it was refreshing, it made talking on the phone useless.

Now recently I watched an interview with the creator of Mark Zuckerberg from when he was here in town a SXSW. Over and over throughout the long and arduous conversation, he emphasized how his goal for Facebook is to just help people communicate better and more efficiently. This is a pretty good goal, especially as a communication majors we probably all are reaching for the goal. But, I have to question how adding a basic chat function is progression at all?

Don't get me wrong I'm sure it is a nifty function to add, and is definitely more useful than buying a "virtual egg" for your friend, but I expect more from Facebook. They have been growing faster than probably 99% of all internet companies since their inception. They have the entire social media blogosphere watching their every move, and the best they can offer us is...chat. Mind you, while you're chatting it will tell you if you get poked during mid-chat.

Facebook's reign atop the social media mountain will only last as long as they continue to innovate. If Zuckerberg is sincere in wanting to progress communication, he's going to have to try harder, think more outside the box. If he doesn't, users will not wait for him to catch up. It is not out of the realm of possibilities for Facebook to slowly go the way of the buffalo and end up like the long last Friendster.