Comments on: Welcome to AOL 2.0! Can You Guess Which Company It Is?

By: Victoria’s Secret Shares Facebook Like a Whole New Way

Victoria’s Secret Shares Facebook Like a Whole New Way — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:58:42 +0000

[...] Stern – May 17th, 2010 Comment Last month Facebook, the company that is getting closer to AOL 2.0 everyday, launched their new social plugins which includes the new Like button. Lots of websites, [...]

By: Predicting Tech News in 2015 by @ScepticGeek

Predicting Tech News in 2015 by @ScepticGeek — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 06:10:56 +0000

[...] has been discussion on this issue time and again on the web. I personally think the web is resilient to any attempts to dominate it in the long [...]

By: The Buzz of Google’s Buzz Isn’t Just Buzz - Kyle Brady - Technotainment Revelations - True/Slant

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:50:35 +0000

[...] data sharing format and delivery method was released just as discussions began about Facebook being the modern version of AOL, walling off all their data and their users from the rest of the Internet. This is an important [...]

By: Facebook And Google On A Collision Course | Regular Geek

Facebook And Google On A Collision Course | Regular Geek — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:42:14 +0000

[...] this convergence a good thing? CenterNetworks talked about this problem a few days ago regarding Facebook and its parallels to AOL. Google is slowly headed in the same [...]

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:42:59 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Doc! I added your link to the post – you are a wise man.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:59:24 +0000

Been there, said that:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2009/01/05/facebook-is-the-borg/

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2008/01/08/lets-call-it-a-twiver/

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:55:50 +0000

Michael – thanks for the comment – I was using 2.0 as the next version not specifically the AOL 2.0 version from like 1993 :)

By: Michael Chui

Michael Chui — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:25:26 +0000

@Ben: I don’t see any difference in what you said between AOL and FB. Everyone was using AOL, too; if people jump ship, then the ship will sink. It’s just a question of when the next big thing overwrites FB’s value prop.

Besides, isn’t AOL at version 10 or something? AOL 2.0 takes us back quite a ways, doesn’t it?

By: Seun Osewa

Seun Osewa — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:37:30 +0000

The main difference is that anyone can join Facebook – and they have. You don’t have to be a US citizen or own a valid credit card. You don’t have to use a slow dial-up modem. In short, Facebook is more like Yahoo 2.0 than AOL 2.0, and Yahoo is still very much here.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:04:38 +0000

To me it seems like facebook can’t die quite like AOL did/is/will die. People can’t just switch to a competing service. People’s friends use facebook. All of people’s friends use facebook. There would have to be a lightning-quick mass exodus of facebookers. This did happen with myspace, but that was before literally everyone had a myspace. Basically, as long as everyone is using facebook, everyone has to continue using facebook.

By: Allen Stern

Allen Stern — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:31:19 +0000

I’d argue they are getting closer together. What does “open” mean to Facebook – I need to do some searches tomorrow for the answer.

I agree that the outcome should be different – AOL didn’t have the luxury of having the pipe handed to them for free like FB does. And hopefully FB has looked at the tapes of AOL and knows which plays not to run.

By: Louis Gray

Louis Gray — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:21:11 +0000

The comparison of Facebook to AOL is not a new one. I would suggest that while there have been similarities, they were more accurate before than they are now, and will be in the future. I believe Facebook’s goal is to be more open and discoverable, while AOL was not.

It is not a surprise that a popular network would have centralized e-mail, nor is it a surprise that people want to get news where they are on the Web. It’s fun to compare, but I think the long-term results will be much different.

By: Jean Cannen

Jean Cannen — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:30:23 +0000

Vonage is AOL.20

Vonage hired half the marketing staff of AOL, bombarded the world with direct mail, then signed people up for life w/o telling them.

By: Manuel

Manuel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:02:20 +0000

AOL IM > Facebook IM. AOL UI > Facebook UI. AOL chances for revenue > Facebook chances for revenue.