IF 2011 had a theme, it was the huge growth of social networks.
Not just as networks of people, but as centres of influence across the web. Owning a social network doesn’t just make you rich, it makes you powerful.
Facebook remains the largest of the lot with 800 million active users around the world, more than half of whom log in at least once a day.
Like a virtual country, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is so big that it has created its own economy.
The more time people spend on Facebook, the more money it can make from advertisers.
So Facebook is constantly coming up with ways to make people stay within its walls for longer.
Other companies don’t want to get left out.
Google, in particular, is desperately chasing the same audience with its own social network, Google Plus (plus.google.com).
Launched in June this year, it already has at least 40 million users. A great start, but still a long way behind Facebook.
The third big network, Twitter, underwent some radical changes this year. Some of these new ideas upset the old-timers, but Twitter is much more interested in attracting new users than in keeping the old-timers happy.
In 2012 we can expect to see the social networking battle get tougher.
In their efforts to pull in customers and keep their eyes glued to the screen the big networks will announce special content, music and movie deals, improved video chat services – anything to get people logged in.
What we’re seeing is the return of ‘walled gardens’, a term used to describe the AOL and CompuServe services that were around in the early days of the web.
It’s in everyone’s best interest to make sure that the open web – the web built on links from one place to the next – continues to thrive in the gaps between these ever-growing gardens.
CRUMBLING COOKIES
New European Commission rules came into effect this year requiring all website builders to change the way they use cookies, tiny text codes that get stored on your computer while you browse.
They’re terribly useful and your computer probably has thousands of them. Come next summer, Eurocrats want you to give permission for each and every one. Find out more from www.allaboutcookies.org.
THING OF THE WEEK
Like skateboards? Like Kate Bush? You’ll love this: http://skatebush.tumblr.com