The Diverging World Of Social Networks
Firefox’s announcement of Hello video chat built into the browser itself this week showed me V+VoIP is becoming a commodity service - you can communicate directly via message or phone or video from whatever community you both share ; which makes sense in a world of divergent social networks. I talk to my friends via iMessage, my family via Skype, my work colleagues via Hangouts, my virtual geek friends via G+, Teachers via Pattr, people I used to know/need to get in touch with for some reason via FB, music lovers via Rdio messenger, etc. The web is fracturing away from the visions of Zuckerberg & Brin, their mistake being that individuals are singular societal atoms (also a flaw with Smithian economic models, you might note) when in reality we are developing multiple facets of our personalities with different groups, and interacting with those using different sites/tools - as if we are multiple people.