[iDC] Autonomous spaces online?

[john sobol]

>
>> A few days ago YouTube was bought by MTV.
>> MySpace is now in Rupert Murdoch's hands.
>> ICQ was obtained by AOL.
>> Google acquired Writely as part of their online vision.
>> Blogger is of course in Google's pocket for a long time.
>> Del.icio.us and Flickr are now owned by Yahoo.
>

Hi

Is it necessarily the case that developing new and appealing social 
networking communities, watching them flower and then selling them off, 
is an inherently unsustainable or negative socio-economic pattern? Has 
the quality of these services decreased substantially since being 
bought? Do you foresee that it will? Does it even matter?

Might we make a valid comparison to, say, bands gaining local or cult 
followings and then signing with major labels and going mainstream? The 
idea that bands who do this are 'selling out' is pretty outdated by 
now, right? We all know that bands can be rich and famous and still 
have creative integrity and artistic merit. But we also know that 
newer, fresher and more relevant bands will emerge to renew the process 
again and again. And audiences will move from one band to the next, or 
stay with their favourites, (as they may stay with or move on from 
MySpace) but the churn is desirable and lucrative and feeds creative 
and economic growth within the music industry.

If we don't look at the buyout of what were once cult-fave sites as 
selling out but rather as a kind of natural maturation leading towards 
eventual natural obsolescence and replacement then all this money being 
injected into the gift economy may be a good thing. Sure some people 
will take the bucks and run but others will invest in new cool sites 
and projects, (i.e. Langlois, Skoll, Glaser et al.). We'll miss the 
good sites that once were in a nostalgic kind of way perhaps (hello 
Bolt.com? Hello Psyche? etc.etc.etc.) but only in the same we enjoy 
hearing songs from our youth (or don't) .  The companies that buy the 
eyeballs that come with these sites will milk their investments as hard 
and long as they can (and not always being complete idiots they will 
not always rape and pillage their investment but may even support and 
amplify its strengths) until people are tired of it or something better 
comes along, which is likely to be sooner rather than later. And might 
not the gift economy then gain greater and greater economic scope and 
influence as the list of online communities that 1) thrive 2) are 
successfully economically leveraged and 3) pass away, grows longer and 
longer?

Getting bought by Salon didn't destroy the Well, but its importance has 
greatly diminished because the networked world around it has caught up 
and surpassed it in magnetic and catalytic and discursive power. Maybe 
this is not regrettable but entirely normal and desirable. What is the 
natural decay rate of a networked community? What comes after Flickr 
with ads? Check back in 6 or 12 months and we'll see.

No doubt a more balanced analysis would highlight many reservations 
about this model but I thought I'd throw it out there for 
consideration...

js

--
www.johnsobol.com
bluesology • printopolis • digitopia