Comments on: The Children's Crusade Strikes Back at Not-a-Teenager (aka Really Old Lady) BoomTown

By: Kara Visits the Offices of RockYou | BoomTown | Kara Swisher | AllThingsD

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:59:45 +0000

[...] have been on a bit of a grumpy tear of late about the juvenile nature of these widgets, whose use has taken off explosively, as the sites they live on have [...]

By: Kara Interviews RockYou Co-Founders Jia Shen and Lance Tokuda | BoomTown | Kara Swisher | AllThingsD

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:59:22 +0000

[...] have been attacking such widgets of late for being too faddish and infantile, which we discuss here, as well the trends to come in the fast-moving [...]

By: Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:13:49 +0000

Dave:

I have tried them all. Meh.

By: Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:55:24 +0000

What Felix says.

By: Felix Martinez

Felix Martinez — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:59:58 +0000

On some level, this debate becomes a larger issue of what kind of contribution web 2.0 wants to make to the world. The great energy behind tech innovations has always been huge ambitions — ambitions for real change — and facebook apps, thus far, are really not living up to those ambitions. So while they are fine — yes, it’s nice to see what music people like, but whatever — they are not great, and they should be great if they want to be meaningful.

With social networks, the computer revolution is at a crossroads — will it keep reaching for true, radical, and yes, utilitarian change, or will it become more about self-conscious posturing and useless information?

Also, one moment to defend television: television is not just something to stare at when you are bored. At its best, it is a living art form that addresses cultural phenomena more thoroughly than anything else in our culture, and at its worst, it is a grotesque mirror image of everything that is appalling in our culture, neither of which is ultimately frivolous. I doubt even the producers of the most inane show on television would defend it by saying it was something people could do when they were bored instead of just staring at a wall. A widget-maker who defends his product that way does not exactly inspire confidence. Seriously, not even tv hacks are that cynical! And that means we MUST be in a freakish bubble.

By: dave mcclure

dave mcclure — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:20:56 +0000

(ps – sorry i can’t spell or proofread my comments. sheesh)

By: dave mcclure

dave mcclure — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:17:56 +0000

actually i’d echo Joshua’s remarks.

iLike, Movies (by Flixster), and iRead are all great examples of very deep, engaging, useful apps that are likely monetizable for several volume categories in music, movies, & books.

these 3 apps aren’t simplistic, flippant, or useless. and they may not generated revenue directly (altho i bet they do), but likely are adding deep demographing profiling data on user segments that will likely drive lead-gen & purchase.

kara: have you tried them? what say you? don’t these qualify as productive/useful, even if they’re in the leisure entertainment category?

- dave

By: Joshua Young

Joshua Young — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:04:44 +0000

I’m confused as to why there is so much hostility focused at Facebook widgets. These items are simple utilities and become what you make of them. For instance, iLike and Flixsters’ Movies are for sharing personal tastes with freinds. I see nothing silly or inane about it, but rather social networking tools based on discovering new entertainment sources from your freinds.
If you are looking at this from a business perspective, which the consumers could care less about BTW, it’s a way of generating revenue from the purchases that result from expanding consumer tastes.
My advice: look past the games and see the utility.

By: Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:24:18 +0000

Bruce: Ginger or Mary Anne? Totally, Mrs. Howell!

Dave: Don’t worry. I don’t! Sorry, I am not there today. T-ball practice with an actual five year old.

Mark: You will really respect me when I get around to posting pix of the cast of “F Troop,” an inane television application if there ever was one. Facebook could learn a thing or two from that show!

Human Pets? Babe (and I mean Babe as in Baby), I think not.

By: Mark Evans

Mark Evans — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:47:38 +0000

I’m confused about why people are fascinated with FB applications as well. All I can say is you have to respect any blogger willing to post a picture of the Giligan’s Island crew.

By: dave mcclure

dave mcclure — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:30:59 +0000

hey kara -

the discussion got lively, altho i believe the point i was trying to make got lost in the teenager / ridiculous / etc bashing…

other panelist soundbites aside, what i was trying to draw out was that the current set of apps were ’simple’ because they were primarily focusing on user acquisition, and give that as the [initial] target, the apps are logically created to be fairly simple.

anyway, it was an interesting topic & i hope you didn’t feel sideswiped by lance or keith’s rebuttal. wasn’t meant as an opportunity for potshots.

(but still nice use of hannah montana regardless

- dave mc

ps – lunch @ web 2.0?

By: Bruce Evans

Bruce Evans — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:04:33 +0000

Ginger, or Mary Anne?

By: Alexander van Elsas

Alexander van Elsas — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:18:49 +0000

I guess that as long the Facebook application developers treat all users as idiots, they will keep producing the same idiotic applications. Comes with the territory.