Desktop Web is Dead

I've had an emptiness inside me for a while now. The kind of cold, dark, gnawing emptiness that can only be filled with a fresh hit of sick software and/or tech.

Unfortunately I have not encountered any truly compelling apps via my desktop experience in many months now. Perhaps going on a couple/few years.

Desktop web ... and perhaps Web 2.0 as a whole ... are dead.

Know where I _have_ finally found that rush? My mobile experience since going Android, and switching to a mobile network with actual coverage (Verizon).

I'm getting my hit of tech not just from social or entertainment apps these days, but from the utility experience perhaps most of all. Apps like Google Maps, (especially with enhanced navigation in Android 2.1+) Evernote, GMail and the HUGE convenience of having all my contact info & photos/avatars combined into effectively one mostly usable, visible, format -- FINALLY -- is giving me at least twice the kick Twitter did when I "got it" back in '07. And then you've got the mostly as-yet unrealized potential of augmented reality apps that truly excite me.

In short, the mobile world is, at long last, maturing into an indispensable part of our daily lives as more than just a simple phone -- I finally feel like I can leave my PC behind some part of the time, and yet still be in touch with what I need to have access to for personal and work communications. The mobile entertainment experience is even gaining some traction with me.

Despite searching fairly long and hard, it has been a long time since I have had a compelling experience with a web app, particularly from a desktop perspective. Twitter is past its peak as far as my interest level goes. Twitter and Facebook remain useful points of contact, useful venues for lifestreaming, but they are no more intriguing to me than LinkedIn or CNN at this point, and the volume of noise makes it hard to find quality signal like the "good old days." (Anyone else miss Friendfeed from waaay back? Pre-Facebook purchase? Pre-early majority noise?)

The existing social media landscape becomes far more interesting when access is made ubiquitous and near-seamless by the latest generation mobile devices -- but even then, I feel like the overall importance or prominence of any one conventional app is diminished. It no longer matters if you are only on Facebook OR Twitter (substitute any number of social media apps/networks) because the device in my hand either combines, or makes equally accessible, your profile and communications in any of these media, networks and/or apps.

To an extent, it feels like we are on the threshold of some truly powerful handheld devices that will take our mobile experience, and our use of technology in our daily lives, to "the next level." Augmented reality that is not limited to a ~4" screen. (3D video calls and HUD GPS navigation via the one-device-that-does-everything-a-person-needs? Always-on peer-to-peer networks? Think of the possibilities! Auto-reroute around weather, accidents and construction in real-time based on reports from traffic ahead of you? Avoid restaurants with long lines? Find parking spaces? Food delivery to your location, not an address? Obviously there are security concerns ...)

What's the next great networked experience on the horizon? Is it desktop or is it mobile? Is it an existing app that no one's heard of yet, or perhaps an as-yet unexploited technology, platform or medium? Is technology holding that next wave back? Does Web 3.0 == mobile+augmented reality?

EDIT: A few notes. Threadsy is a handy way to combine things, but the experience does not light my fire. I never really got into Twine too hard before they got gobbled up by Evri. Quora I have recently found very interesting, but not life-changing. Rdio is nothing special.

Study: Ages of social network users

Interesting, and to me at least, a little bit surprising.

Study: Ages of social network users | Royal Pingdom

Leaving FriendFeed behind

Sorry, Paul Bucheit, Ben Golub and the rest of the FriendFeed crew, but I'm just not compelled anymore.

I don't like the feel of the realtime flow, and Google Reader offers me everything else I'm looking for in a social news discovery application. I know more active users, more intimately, on Facebook than I do on FriendFeed. Unfortunately for you, Facebook and Google definitely "stole" a lot of your momentum and innovation. The rest of what FriendFeed offers I already have through Twitter.

RIP FriendFeed, I see nothing that differentiates you or offers unique value anymore. I met a lot of interesting people early on -- which I think is one of the greatest experiences you have during early public betas of social network sites -- but these days it's loud, crowded, fragmented and just doesn't grab me like it once did.

I'll leave my feeds posting in, and I'll respond to interesting comments, (thanks to email notification) but that will be, and for some time really has been, the extent of my participation in FriendFeed.

FriendFeed is exposing user email addresses

I happened to take a closer look at a FriendFeed subscription notification today, and noted that the reply-to field is populated with user email addresses. FriendFeed is giving your email address away to anyone you subscribe to.

Conversation on FriendFeed.

UPDATE: Reported fixed by Paul Buchheit of FriendFeed as of approximately 5:40PM Eastern. Thanks for the quick fix, Paul & FF.

Book Review: Now is Gone

Now is Gone, by Geoff Livingston, with Brian Solis



This book is precisely what it claims to be: a practical primer for new media. Moving right to the heart of every topic it covers, Now is Gone is straightforward and on the mark, with a succinct recap of salient points at the end of every chapter.

This is not a tome of theory -- nor should it be. This book is more of a field guide: how to get involved with new media, social media, social networking, how to do it right, how to hopefully avoid certain pitfalls along the way, and to be ready, willing and able to admit culpability in the case of a misstep. Every executive, entrepreneur AND student ought to read this work, because moving forward, the activities and philosophies covered are going to be heart and core of nearly every company out there. New media, especially as covered by this work, is as much, or more, about customer relationship management than it is about PR or marketing; perhaps I should rephrase. PR and marketing, maturing to meet social media as described in this book, are the future of CRM.

Now is Gone returns again and again to the concepts of community, conversation and transparency. Without a doubt these values and practices are becoming, must become, predominant in the culture of any company hoping to succeed and thrive in the evolving, globalizing, always-on business world and consumer community. The people formerly known as the audience are smart, in touch and growing more and more used to getting the "inside story" on the products and services they consume, to having their voices heard, to having their opinions matter. It makes nothing but the best of sense to work with these powerful forces, rather than against them, and Now is Gone offers valuable insights and real world examples relevant to these critical matters without wasting the reader's time with ivory tower nonsense.

Learn more at NowIsGone.com