As Small as a Giant: Sizable Competition for Facebook
Feeling left out because you have not been protesting with a movement lately? Or are you not attempting to occupy anything besides a good use of your time? Maybe it's time you hop on the FU bandwagon. From Wall Street to Washington, D.C., throughout our work day and weekends, it seems as though our time is all being occupied by the unstoppable force of Facebook. Currently, I am thumbs-up "liking" my status as, "Upstart Unthink: FU Time."
Roughly six years ago, I plead guilty into accepting the friend request from the Judge of social networking, Facebook; however, way back then, it was mostly made up of three concepts: wall posting, non-instant messaging, and embarrassing photos. These days, Facebook has become synonymous with targeted advertising, privacy violations, and TMI. The evolution of keeping in touch through Facebook is slowly surpassing its cool points for this decade. Now it seems as though everybody knows down to the second every time someone checks into the local Chick-fil-a for a bite. The act of social networking has transcended into an information overload and is almost too unreal for me. I'm not sure how the rest of the world feels about Facebook, but I'm at the point where it's time to check out.
What does Unthink have to offer? How is it different than Facebook? The FU team touts freedom and control of your own information and privacy, selling the idea that you are no longer simply a "user" on a social network; rather, you're an "owner" of your own data and information. What caught my interest was the passion behind their Emancipation pages on their website, with such titillating phrases as, "The only universe that interests us is the one that we help shape." Unthink comes out swinging hard at the ad-filled, anti-privacy focused machine of Facebook.
The web universe has been expanding beyond infinity + since I first joined the social network scene six years ago, but it seems new ideas and web revolutions are in short demand. "We believe in the people," says CEO and founder, Natasha Dedis. With Unthink, you get an all-in-one social networking platform without having to sacrifice your personal identity, as well as the opportunity to branch all of your networks on the same social tree, hassle-free.
We don't need another social network. We need a social revolution with the guaranteed freedom to choose whether or not we disclose our identities to the world. That revolution is brewing slowly as tension over privacy concerns and data mining grows. Is Unthink going to be the Doc Holliday that will strike a blow at Facebook? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm yearning to free myself from the shackles of social networking and become an unthinker.
What are your thoughts on Facebook and social networking? I'd love to know, so drop a comment below.