Shooting at Bubbles

Facebook is the biggest monster in the room, there’s no denying that.

It is huge and regardless of how much of an uproar there might be over the way it decides it wants things done it isn’t going anywhere. We might whine and bitch about Facebook constantly changing the rules of the game in order to suit its own ends but unfortunately there is no other social network capable of challenging it.

But perhaps it doesn’t need to be challenged. Perhaps there are alternatives out there that while not as big or all encompassing as Facebook that are just as good in their own way. After all it isn’t a requirement that we need to join, or participate, Facebook – at least not yet.

I was thinking about that today when I read a post by Louis Gray where he was talking about why Google Buzz was a better alternative for him over Facebook.

The world of social networking is not a zero-sum game. For Buzz to succeed does not mean that either of the other networks have to fail. In fact, it doesn’t even mean that Buzz has to be the biggest network on the planet. But it does mean that it should have the potential to be the best. I need a powerful aggregation tool that watches my activity on Google Reader and native blogs, but also offers the option to share photos and videos in a public way. Buzz does that. I need a powerful tool that lets me find friends’ updates from around the Web and engage with them in a central location. Buzz does that.

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