Fred Wilson's Thoughts on Flickr
Fred Wilson (A VC) recently published a blog post about how Flickr (and presumably other services) need to be able to post their own code on their personal pages within that service.
I agree with him, and I disagree with him.
Here's why. What is the key difference between MySpace and Facebook? MySpace lets users control a lot of the layout of their page and add widgets to it. The end result is a lot of bad web designers create pages that are viewed fairly regularly, pages that are very unfriendly and cause my browser to freak out.
The Facebook on the other hand allows users to exert their creativity through adding photos, notes, and by customizing their profile page through the use of text in structured categories.
The minute Facebook changes that method and allows users to start to insert html into their profile pages is the day that my Facebook usage drops 95 percent.
I do see how some users could want to be able to create their own fancy pages though. I just don't want to see their music playing widget on their Flickr photo page.
A proposal.
Services such as Flickr, Facebook, and MySpace need to create two versions of their services. Not two separate sets of data, but two separate ways of displaying that data. One version would allow the users to surf te services as the users had created it. The other version would allow users to surf the service as the service was originally designed. The user-created display would be enabled by default.
I release that idea to whoever wishes to use it. I think it's necessary for the evolution of these services to continue.
I agree with him, and I disagree with him.
Here's why. What is the key difference between MySpace and Facebook? MySpace lets users control a lot of the layout of their page and add widgets to it. The end result is a lot of bad web designers create pages that are viewed fairly regularly, pages that are very unfriendly and cause my browser to freak out.
The Facebook on the other hand allows users to exert their creativity through adding photos, notes, and by customizing their profile page through the use of text in structured categories.
The minute Facebook changes that method and allows users to start to insert html into their profile pages is the day that my Facebook usage drops 95 percent.
I do see how some users could want to be able to create their own fancy pages though. I just don't want to see their music playing widget on their Flickr photo page.
A proposal.
Services such as Flickr, Facebook, and MySpace need to create two versions of their services. Not two separate sets of data, but two separate ways of displaying that data. One version would allow the users to surf te services as the users had created it. The other version would allow users to surf the service as the service was originally designed. The user-created display would be enabled by default.
I release that idea to whoever wishes to use it. I think it's necessary for the evolution of these services to continue.
1 Comments:
At January 05, 2007 8:13 AM , raster said...
Agreed... The problem with MySpace is that I cannot browse it for more than a few minutes, and I can't use tabs when browsing it because I can't just open a tab and leave it, I have to switch to it and play the "find the pause button" game.
The usability of Flickr and Facebook is a zillion times better than MySpace. I think you can do customization without being obnoxious or destroying usability.
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