I once sat on the train from Copenhagen to Jutland. Two sets of seats were facing together, so we were 4 people placed in natural conversation distance. For some reason, we ended up talking about Facebook. It was revealed that me and the older woman to my left didn't use Facebook, while the two opposite travellers did. One of the Facebook users, a man on a business trip, mentioned some of the many advantanges Facebook gave to his company. I pointed out that Maersk, the company he worked for, wasn't a small company. He acknowledged this with sparkling pride - his company was indeed one of the big players. (Largest container ship operator in the world, sez Wikipedia) But, I argued, even a big player as Maersk didn't really have a choice. Facebook was the dominant platform, and Maersk had to either use it, or be left out. There were no alternative.
I have a vague fear of such all-dominant forces on the internet, but I can't pinpoint exactly what it is that I'm afraid of. On this topic, I think the two texts below are worth reading, especially the second one.
Why we fear Google
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleto...ue#pageIndex_2
22 MIN. READ - "When Google changed an algorithm, one of our subsidiaries lost 70 percent of its traffic within a few days. The fact that this subsidiary is a competitor of Google’s is certainly a coincidence. We are afraid of Google. I must state this very clearly and frankly, because few of my colleagues dare do so publicly."
Shoshanna Zuboff: Dark Google
http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/...-12916679.html
20 MIN. READ - "We witness the rise of a new absolute power. Google transfers its radical politics from cyberspace to reality. It will earn its money by knowing, manipulating, controlling the reality and cutting it into the tiniest pieces. "
EDIT: The previous link to 'Dark Google' did not work with Pocket. I have now replaced it with a link to the the mobile version of the article, which is Pocket-compatible.