#Delete Facebook > This Is How The Social Network Of The Future Should Look Like

cyberwarrior (52)in #technology • 6 years ago

Because of the privacy scandal at Facebook, the social medium is out of favor. New initiatives are emerging, such as Hyves 2.0. And now comes an old MP with a private network called Datong. Chanceless or a good idea?

It started as a joke of an internet company GoalGorilla from Enschede. They launched Hyves 2.0 last week and soon the site was flat due to a stream of registrations . GoalGorilla is now looking for a lender to bring the network back to life with dancing banana.

Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG) has been the owner of Hyves for years, which only exists as a brand for a game site. "We see the urge for nostalgia , but there are no plans to revive Hyves", says TMG spokesperson Dagna Hoogkamer.

Although she thinks Hyves 2.0 is a fun and sympathetic idea, she also says that in 2018 it is no longer possible to build a social network with a modest investment that the whole of the Netherlands uses. Although TMG does not quite throw the towel in the ring. "We are open to discussions if there is a solid plan behind it."

Social media must be global

Building a network is not one-two-three. An important requirement is that it must become an international network, says Hoogkamer. Facebook is, unlike former Hyves, a worldwide platform. "You can make contacts with people from other countries, we think that is necessary."

This is where Internet entrepreneur Boris Veldhuijzen of Zanten joins in. "A global social network is more attractive than a local network." He is the owner of The Next Web and was one of the first Dutch people who dared to invest in internet companies and knew there in the 90s already cashing. His former partner Koen Kam was one of the founders of Hyves, which was 'technologically far behind.'

Facebook is no longer the hip bar

If you want to start a new social medium, you have to reckon with it that in almost all cases it fails. Veldhuijzen from Zanten draws the comparison with a trendy bar. You can only be hip when your friends are there. But everyone starts at zero. "So you can not be a trendy bar right from the start."

To put it this way: the chance to be just that hip bar that everyone wants to go to is small, since there are plenty of bars in the café street that try the same. "Facebook is no longer the hip bar, which has been going on for a while and is now happening at a rapid pace."

That is not so much because of the privacy scandal , but more because young people under twenty are no longer interested in Facebook. And those young people have the future according to Veldhuijzen van Zanten.

Keep it clean

Yet Mark Zuckerberg has already prepared himself for this future years ago as a smart entrepreneur. Instagram and Whatsapp are extremely popular. And Snapchat, which does not do very well at the fair, does well with young people. "But the money is still earned on Facebook, but it's a problem for them if everyone switches."

It is precisely the fact that Facebook is such a cash cow that the internet entrepreneur sees as the cause of the problem. All advertising and games have 'polluted' our timelines on Facebook. The social media of the future must feel clean. "Marketers have to think about that."

Every network has its own focus

He sees Instagram as a much cleaner platform, although he hears that marketers find it an awkward medium. Here it is mainly about photos, not about messages, games and news articles.

A niche, Veldhuijzen van Zanten calls it. Networks of the future must be focused. "You can also see this in LinkedIn, which is made more interesting by the business focus."

"Instagram is for family and friends, you can discuss things on Whatsapp and dickpics you send via Snapchat." Why would you need a Facebook, he asks himself. "I do not see a new Facebook happening."

Privacy network

Yet that is what the initiators of Datong want. Among other things, former PvdA Member of Parliament Astrid Oosenbrug is behind this social medium that focuses on privacy and security. Exactly what many Facebook leavers are concerned about at the moment.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. That was all yesterday , there is read on the site of Datong ,a non-profit platform that can not be dominated by advertisements. A 'clean' platform, say Veldhuijzen van Zanten. It must become a European network, so it also meets 'the network of the future'.

All-in-one network

"We are fed up with all our data being misused, which is the time to say: I'm done with it", says Oosenbrug. Datong not only wants to fight with Facebook, but also wants to offer an alternative for Youtube, Gmail and Dropbox. In time, a crypto coin will even have to be delivered and transfers can be made via the platform

No focus, but all-in-one. Sounds overconfident, but Oosenbrug is confident. "We get the legislation on our side, the other platforms run on data sales, that will no longer be possible." Datong hopes to make investments in the European Union, but money is already coming in through crowdfunding.