Brokekid.net

Network Services Vs Information Services

Sean Parker, co-founder of Facebook, argues that “network services” like Facebook and Twitter will trump “information services” like Google and Yahoo and that connecting people has more value that collecting data. Parker argues that the value increases almost exponentially as the “nodes” in your network increase.

What Facebook has argued in the past is that people want to know what their peers are thinking more than what an anonymous source or unknown critic thinks. For example, if you’re planning a trip to Paris, would you rather find recommendations from Google or through a close friend that has been there? Does a book review from the New York Times hold more sway than a book review from a trusted relative?

Check out Parker’s presentation –
Sean Parker’s Web 2.0 Summit Presentation

Two problems I see with Facebook; one is that you aren’t allowed to designate “relations” to your contacts. Is your Paris contact a close friend, a relative, a co-worker or an acquaintance? These differences matter. The second problem is the type of content that Facebook makes available to your stream. Most of it is entirely irrelevant and will continue to be if they don’t open up their application development platform. Plus it’s incredibly difficult to navigate through, though that’s an issue Facebook will be addressing in it’s next design update.

Digital Protest

This is almost a year old, but worth sharing -

On February 18, 2009, a group of NYU students calling themselves Take Back NYU (TBNYU) barricaded themselves inside the university’s Kimmel Center for Student Life cafeteria, the Kimmel MarketPlace. Armed with laptops and wireless internet connections, the group published a list of 12 demands, including disclosure of the university’s operating budget, assurance of fair labor practices for all NYU employees, the creation of a Socially Responsible Finance Committee, tuition stabilization, scholarships for Palestinian students and free public access to Bobst library.

Ultimately the student’s demands were not met but they did set a new precident in protest. So how was their protest different?

TBNYU entered the student center knowing they would have full internet access, and they took advantage of that…they published their demands and wrote entries about the scene within the barricade, all of which could be accessed on their web site…recorded the events on Twitter, offered a live streaming broadcast, so people outside could actually talk to those inside Kimmel, and posted photos…tipped off NYULocal, a blog that covers NYU news, and the site responded by installing a reporter in the Kimmel MarketPlace. The reporter, Charlie Eisenhood, liveblogged the events from the inside for over 30 hours.

This event was one of the most comprehensively covered protests in school history. Though their demands weren’t the protest had an impact on the community and the media -

1. Take Back NYU was able to garner greater numbers of followers, who either stood in solidarity or actually entered the MarketPlace.
2. The widespread coverage on blogging sites and campus media outlets certainly most likely encouraged administrators to use caution when removing the protesters from the building.
3. The sit-in attracted national and international attention.
4. Incorrect information about the situation in Kimmel reached a large number of people.
5. Things did get violent. Discussions on NYULocal and WSN chat forums became heated, and a large number of individuals stood outside Kimmel because they had read about or watched portions of the occupation on the internet.
6. The administration was easily able to sap much of the movement’s power simply by removing a connection to technology.

There are many lessons to be learned from the students tactics but ultimately the fact that they were very well connected to the outside world paid dividends for their cause even if they didn’t accomplish everything they had wished for.