The Social OS - Why Apple should buy Facebook.
There is a clear excitement in the valley on anything related to social networking (some would even say irrational exuberance). Like many of you, I started using FaceBook and came to the realization that social network is not an application or a Web site. Instead, it is a primitive, a core identity service that is worth embedding across most network application. I know what you are thinking: "what took you so long"?
Indeed, everyone seems to be joining the social network party. All the big guys are publicly playing catch up. Google social stream wants to unify all your networks into one (one social network to rule them all with no evil). Yahoo! is secretly working on something too. Meanwhile, Microsoft seems to be ready to open the purse. Even Cisco has realized that social networks are a network platform and as such, are worth placing a bet on. But eh, wait. Someone is missing the party. There is no black turtleneck to be seen anywhere. There is no word of Apple when it comes to social networking.
I have never used .MAC. I always found it hard to pay for services I can get online for free. However, I did switch to Mac OS X, MacBook and iPod for pictures, video and music. Certainly, there is an iPhone in my future. But let us think different for a second. Would not it be insanely great if all these second to none applications called iPhoto, iTunes and MailViewer let me do the basic things that Flickr, Last.fm, and Facebook let me do every day?
The more I experience social networking, the more I am convinced that social networks capabilities should be part of any modern operating system. No, Apple does not need to buy Facebook. However, we, the Mac users could greatly benefit if the boys in Cupertino were to take a serious look at it. Knowing my old NeXT friends, I would not be surprised if they were not already working hard at it.
