walled garden or no, there are 3 reasons Facebook Platform kicks ass:
1) the app dev infrastructure on Facebook is pretty darn good, and makes it very very easy to develop & deploy apps
2) the social graph gives you a ton of info via the Facebook API you can’t get anywhere else (at least until MySpace or LinkedIn have an API), &
3) the distribution opportunities via the FB newsfeed & messaging environment are tremendous, and are currently unparalleled

furthermore, FB is *not* a walled garden, since the API is actually accessible outside the FB network as well. FB authentication on normal websites is an accessible service that provides a ready-to-go identity system usable pretty much anywhere. this was available *before* the Platform launch, and is still accessible. it uses a proprietary identity & hosting system, but that’s no different than Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo. ‘open’ is as open does.

my thoughts on these topics are laid out in further gory detail in this post & comment & several others:
http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2007/07/kottke-is-wrong.html#comment-76563560

regards,

- dave mcclure

Facebook has provided a great place to have quick dialogue with indviduals and groups of individuals outside of email. As form of interpersonal and group communication this seems to be a good thing.

The addition of all the applications is a love hate thing for me. I love it that I can quickly spread the word about something important to me or my group, and that we can all vote and see results on our favorite topics, amongst some other pluses. But seeing advertisements disguised as apps, particularly when they have no real functionality apart from taking you outside of FB to fill out a form is completely distasteful. If the app is going to be in Fb it needs a communication or assistance function.

This won’t be the case, however. Thousands of companies will start pummeling Facebook with ‘appli-spam’. However, I doubt that Facebook, given it’s communication restraints will ever get completely spattered with garbage like MySpace. Be thankful for that.

I have to say I completely agree with this “Social object is the main thing the social network is about. Flickr has photos, Last.fm has music, 43Things has activities, Twitter has social statuses.”

Just because “everyone” is on it, doesn’t mean I need to be. Thats why I’m using flickr & last.fm

I think we both agree that the suggestion that Facebook could be the next [insert name of global software giant!] is sort of…well, a bit too crazy.
Right? I like that you’ve acknowledged Facebook’s strengths too.

We make web software (www.planhq.com). Sometimes, it is hard convincing people to use the internet, now Facebook is helping people rave about web software.

baby steps!

Then it started to takeover the social aspects of life around me. The phone would stop ringing, the party invites were not flyers anymore, and relationships were not real until the status on facebook had been updated. The amount of power it had gained in those two years was scary.

All of this, followed by the slow expansion. Next came the applications which the blogosphere was eating up. I personally find the applications system intrusive into the aspects I knew and loved about facebook. It’s growth was at a scary rate, good for them, but bad for us.

Lots of criticism in the college level. Well, I shouldn’t say lots…but I go to journalism school and we have frequent discussions about it, the information they have collected and have power over.

I even tried to delete my account once, when I noticed friends parents getting on there, now even my step mom has an account. The account doesn’t even delete though. It just goes inactive, so all of your information is still there.

I can’t say I am the biggest fan of the direction it’s taking, but I’ve been there since the beginning so it’s a bit much to take in.