What's the future of Facebook. I don't mean: "Will it be here in five years"? It probably will. Of course, it might not. But if it is here, it won’t be the way it is today, or even what it is today. It will be something completely different that's still trying to grab our attention. But whether it’s here or not, what's going to happen to all of our posts and comments?
Since most of what I post on Facebook is for my business, many of my posts are forwarding information or commenting about what's going on in the big wide wonderful world. Not stuff that I’ll actually care about in five years. Probably not even stuff that I’ll care about next week.
What I’m really wondering about is the posts where people are documenting their lives or their children's lives on Facebook. Maybe without even realizing it.
I know one new mother who is frequently posting about her newborn son. It's beautiful, and I love to hear about his progress and see the pictures of him with different friends and family members. But what is going to happen to all of this information? Will it be on Facebook when he's 10, 15, 20? Will his mother be able to take all of her posts, all of the comments, and put together a DVD showing him how much he is loved?
I don't know what Facebook's plans are for archiving everything, and I'm not such a prolific poster that I've tested that envelope or have any plans to. But I find it hard to believe that Facebook will keep an infinite record of everything that's posted.
After all, a lot of things on Facebook are throw aways. There will be records and commentary about today’s economy, politics and deficits years from now. But wouldn't it be wonderful to have the ability to capture the posts that actually matter? Anniversaries, pictures, events – things about friends and family. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to separate the special from the boring things that we all post every day.
Copyright 2010 by I Write The Word, Judy Kane
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