Jan

04

2010

Justin Taylor|11:17 am CT

The Magic Formula for Making Social Networking Sites Profitable

“The only hope for social networking sites from a business point of view is for a magic formula to appear in which some method of violating privacy and dignity becomes acceptable.”

Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto (Knopf, 2010), cited in Michael Agger’s review at Slate.

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3 Comments

  1. Mike Garner
    January 4, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    Lanier manages to be critical about just about anything that the internet has to offer. He isn’t necessarily wrong on everything, but the incessant hyperbole and pessimism grows tiring.

    “He does propose a solution to the difficulty of how to compensate artists, artisans, and programmers in a digital era: a content database that would be run by some kind of government organization.”

    If that is really the best solution he has to offer, then we can rest assured that his ideas will never have a meaningful impact on the Web 2.0 landscape.

  2. Sam Yates
    January 4, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    I saw the disconnect people have in their relationship to sites like Facebook summed up nicely on a Slashdot post one day. The exact wording may be off, but to paraphrase:

    Remember, you are not Facebook’s customer. You are the the *product*.

    It really helps to keep that in mind.

  3. chris
    January 4, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    Social networking sites are phenomenal free sources for announcing events and other news items regarding projects or products. They may not generate revenue in and of themselves, but they are powerful tools that have democratized advertising for the little guy.

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