Buy me now or wait until I grow older, wiser and become more expensive

Facebook announced last week the acquisition of WhatsApp, instant messaging platform in a deal close to 19billion US dollars.

One year ago the deal would have costed Facebook about one billion US dollars.  So the wait proved costly.  But at that point WhatsApp was not as widely known as it is now.  

The ecosystem of social media platforms and applications is very dynamic.  Not all of them survive the forces of the market and popularity.  Not all of them promote good practices.  Just remember Facebook Beacon's application.  It would connect Facebook with your purchases and would let everybody on your network know what you had just bought.  

The approach in that case was different.  It was the application collecting data without your full consent.  Now it is you who give that informants to Facebook via another application called Foursquare.  So you want to be popular and tell everybody you are in an expensive restaurant.  So you login in Foursquare.  And then Facebook (with your consent, presumably) would make sure advertisers know about your preferences.  The same can happen with WhatsApp users...

Facebook has grown wiser.  It is now more careful, it waits for people to adopt a new application before buying it or implementing a similar one.  But those people developing applications are also wiser, and they know that they can position themselves as indispensable and ask for anything in terms of money.  So that Facebook will have to take an interest later on when they have proved to be popular and acceptable.  

Will this transaction be beneficial for both parties? Well, WhatsApp owners have got some cash and shares.  Possibly they will also lead their company from the inside.  Like a good football player that is bought by a good team, the future lies not only in the player but on how the team play together.  We will see how well the management of this new venture does.  

Facebook wants to be the only social platform that people use to connect to each other.  The more we connect to Facebook the more they know about us, the more people like me look for alternatives.   I think I have grown older, bit wiser and definitely more expensive :)

My digital footprint

I was struck by a recent article in bbc news on the new Google acquisitions: smart thermostat maker Nest, and robotics company Boston Dynamics.  

You can read the article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25725808

So it seems Google wants to have its fingers in many different pies.  And it wants to connect smart appliances to the internet.  

Inn the future we could have android running on these appliances.  That seems to be a way forward.  This is not in my predictions post (see my previous post), but it makes good sense.  Something that was announced in the book by Negroponte "Being Digital" (1995): you can talk to your microwave, your dishwasher or your car.  

According to this article Google seems to be going further than that.  It is collecting data about you and me.  Your presences when you search the web, when you set up your mobile phone.  And who knows, the type of food that you out in the microwave, your eating times, the routes that you take to go to work.  Google is connecting many things to the internet.  Or shall we say that Google is collecting your digital footprints?

Yes. 

Is this a bad thing?

Maybe, maybe not.  There is a lot of data out there, and we are becoming used to think that someone or something has to process it to help us in order to make our lives easier.  For instance we do not quarrel anymore about the weather forecast.  We seem to need to know what is going to happen.  We need that kind of 'information'.  Siri is supposed to learn from us and help us.  And we let it do it

The only problem that I see today is that we need to leave our digital footprints.  We need to leave them somewhere.  We also need to let Google collect them.  And then Google will create a knowledge base from which we can all learn new things.  But we will then learn and use what is suggested as best.  Or what comes first in our search for answers.  Your foot prints and mines together.  Collective intelligence.  What if that is wrong? What if we want 'out' of the collective? Now can we challenge it? 

Reminds me of Startrek and the Borg rather than Big Brother.  We are one. We think like one.  We assimilate others.  Resistance is futile...Only to discover that there was a Borg queen. 

Or shall we say two Borg kings? 

2014 guesses

As usual I ask myself what could happen in the new year.  

Some predictions, illusions, and overall food for thought.    

We can name 2013 the year of the tablet.  Finally tablets took off.  They are used everywhere. Supermarket chains are even offering their own tablet versions.Books stores still survive, just. Online shopping is on the increase, and offline shopping is still alive. IT job offers are on the rise, but salaries are not up that much.  

What can we expect for 2014? 

-This year can become the cyber security year.  Cybercrime appears to become more sophisticated, but so are the organisations fighting it.  Also the universities educating the future security professionals. Those of us who are still sceptical of cloud computing can see a reason not to use as much the cloud or Dropbox as we used to.  

-This year can also be the year of business intelligence (BI).  Just check the number or courses with this name.  Also the number of jobs even in the academic sector.  Time to see if it delivers, because the name and technologies associated with it have been around long enough.  

-For many businesses globalisation can come to an end this year.  It has worked well for some, not so well for others.  What could be more feasible now is to have partnerships with certain countries.  The global scenario is to be occupied by cities.  Rio de Janeiro will be on stage, but others will also follow.  Cities will need to offer good living conditions, not only economic opportunities.  My continuous concern with city centres in the UK so because I still do not see how cities can be inclusive for migrants, the elderly, and families.  

-Technology will definitely help people to continue being connected, but this year there can be many more social media communities, and Facebook might need to fight hard to remain valuable.  Time to reinvent itself? Maybe.  And Amazon? They need to offer more convenience at good prices. 

Ok, let us see what really happens this year.  Happy 2014!