The utility of the Internet has come along way. Portals and directories, such as Yahoo, used to be the dominate method for finding information on the web. Then Google came along and showed how every website could now be indexed in logical, intelligent (often gamed) way. Now with Facebook, we’re moving back into a portal except, one that is guided by our social circles: family, friends, acquaintances, business colleagues, college classmates, inspirations and paying advertisers. To be in a time in history when people promote their Facebook page over their website is something I couldn’t have imagined. So here we are. Facebook’s dominate presence is full in effect. And now Facebook releases Timeline:
Timeline seems cool, just like Google’s method for indexing everything indexable on the Internet. But just like Google, the creep factor sets in even more.
Google knows a lot about you, me and your grandma. But, it’s safe to say Facebook knows more. With Timeline, we can see that Facebook’s vision is impressed on us, and that we will use Facebook to define and illustrate our lineage/ancestry. [*gets that weird feeling*] The creep factor sinks in again, what will they do with what they know?
The biggest difference, in debating who is creepier, is that Google will index the information it can index, with your consent or not (sure if you own your website you can put a robots.txt file up but who you are fooling). Note: Google does not have access to Facebook profiles. Facebook however, is a choice to join and share. And thankfully, you now can even prevent being Tagged in posts/images through pre-approval. I haven’t even mentioned Google+ yet, mainly because I think it’s still too early to say that it will stick with the masses.
Who do you think is creepier? What am I missing?