Beware the Walled Garden

Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, recently announced the upcoming launch of Facebook Messages, a service that is meant to revolutionize communication as we know it.  By streamlining outgoing communication and centralizing emails, chat, Facebook messaging and text messaging in one place, Zuckerberg aspires to make a personal Facebook page into a communications dashboard, a universal inbox where every form of electronic communication can be reached, accessed and responded to.  While he insists that Facebook Messages is not a deliberate attempt to put other services like Yahoo! and Gmail out of business, he does believe that they will become obsolete.  He estimates that in as soon as two years, Facebook Messages will be the only service people will use.

While Zuckerberg’s aim is to make communication more convenient and understandable for users, what Facebook is moving towards is the creation of a walled garden.  That is, a place where everything you could possibly want or need is contained within its walls and there’s no reason to go outside – and possibly, no way to do so either.

I’m the type of person who worries about having a lack of options in life.  I’m even more wary of the act of limiting those options oneself.  Imagine putting all of your money into one bank, making all of your investments with that bank, having all lines of credit, your mortgage, your car note through that bank and keeping your valuables in that bank’s safe deposit box.  Is it convenient? Of course!  All of your financial information is in one place, you’re familiar with the personnel, and you can do all of your money-related business in one place.

But what if the bank burns down?

Earlier this year, I wrote about Facebook’s four-day-long series of crashes and the effect a larger or more prolonged crash could have on small businesses.  I advised people to diversify their use of social media, and I stand by that advice when it comes to electronic communications.  Should Facebook have another minor crash — and believe me, what happened earlier this year was very minor compared to what might have happened — and all of your communications were tied up in it, how would your business function?  How would team members be able to contact each other, or customers communicate concerns, needs, or emergencies?  Think about having all of your communication shut down even for 48 hours.  Any entrepreneur will tell you that two days can deal a serious blow to your business.  Now imagine a major crash, or worse, a complete failure.  After all, no one thought the banks could fail, did they?

This is not meant to be a blog vilifying Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg in any way.  If Facebook Messages turns out to be right for you and your business, and you feel comfortable using it, then by all means you should.  What this blog is meant to be is a warning, a reminder to diversify your communications options.  Keep at least one email account open and separate.  Make sure that you have other avenues of communication like Twitter, Yammer, instant messaging, et cetera.  By doing so you’ll be able to be on the cutting edge with Facebook Messages while maintaining a backup should a crash occur.

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