Facebook – Page 36 – Andrew Careaga

Memo to Mark Zuckerberg:

Not everyone is enamored with the new Facebook Platform. Oh, sure, the grown-ups love it. Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine is one of your biggest cheerleaders. “I finally joined Facebook and have become obsessed with Zuckerbergâ€™s creation,” Jarvis wrote in a recent column. (By the way, Jeff, I still haven’t heard back from you on my friend request. Please add me post haste. I’ve got some apps I want to share with you.) Jarvis also points to another glowing review, this one from Seth Goldstein, who puts metaphors into the Cuisinart when he enthuses that “the Facebook ecosystem … seemed to be bubbling up like thick layer of foam over a double shot of Google.”

Both gush about the network with the zeal of new converts.

Then there’s Marc Andreessen‘s recent analysis of the Facebook platform. And a reasonable, thorough analysis it is. Lengthy, but worth the read. Like Jarvis and Goldstein, Andreessen is also a big believer in Facebook. But perhaps because he’s been around for awhile and has seen a lot of Internet innovations come and go, he tempers his enthusiasm with a keen analytical approach. Still, he can’t help but end with a hearty “Congratulations to the Facebook team — big time! — for an amazing leap forward in what the Internet can do for real users and for opening up whole new vistas of opportunities for third-party developers.”

Meanwhile, Facebook’s base — the college students who made the creation such a success — seems to be weakening. Here are a few gleanings from this morning’s Facebook check. These are all comments displayed by UMR students who are in my Facebook network.

______ is disappointed in how sucky facebook is becoming with all the applications. :( *sigh*.

_______ is about to stop using facebook because she is sick of all the new “applications.”

________ joined the group I hate getting invited to Facebook Applications…It’s annoying

________ joined the group We hate all the %&*$ applications!!!

These comments are random and anecdotal. I’m not suggesting that the animus these students feel toward Facebook apps is widespread. But given the viral nature of communications on this social network, this vibe could spread quickly across Facebook and create unsettling tremors.

Take a note from the politicians, Facebook, and don’t abandon your base.

Now that anyone with a network connection can get into Facebook, will it lose its cachet and become the next MySpace? Colleges and universities wanting to maintain a close-knit social network may want to look beyond Facebook and take a do-it-yourself approach. That’s what Elon University has done with its Elon Town Square.

Karine Joly describes Elon’s approach in a recent post. She interviews Dan Anderson, Elon’s assistant VP and director of university relations, who explains that the schools wanted to especially enhance “alumni and parent connections with Elon.”

I’m not sure that approach would work for everyone — it would take a strong working relationship with the IT department, for one thing — but it’s nice to see it can work in some cases. Just goes to prove that one size doesn’t fit all.