Matthew Lang avatar

Matthew Lang

Family guy and web developer

A bleak future for the web?

The Trinet (Amazon, Facebook, Google) is a depressing prospect for the future of the web.

The War for Net Neutrality in the USA won a battle in 2014, but in 2017 we are seeing a second battle which is more likely to be lost. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are probably soon going to dictate what traffic can or cannot arrive at people’s end devices. GOOG-FB-AMZN traffic would be the most common, due to their popularity among internet users. Because of this market demand, ISPs will likely provide cheap plans with access to GOOG-FB-AMZN, while offering more expensive plans with full internet access.

— The web begain dying in 2014, here’s how by André Staltz

There’s still one thing that the web has in it’s favour. People are still willing to make it the best open platform it can be.

Google might have shut down their RSS reader but there’s been a number of replacements sprung up that people are willing to pay for like Feedbin.

Facebook might have the social internet sewn up just now, but people are continually challenging that with alternatives like Mastodon and Micro.blog.

Amazon might have the shopping internet market share, but how long can they continue that success? Retail is a never-ending cycle of new companies and stores trying to sell products. Can Amazon remain on top?

I’m optimistic that the web can still be and open platform for all. It comes from educating people about the sacrifices they’re making in using the Trinet’s applications and services and what the trade-off is. I suspect most people are not too bothered though, but there are people who are willing to support and work towards an open web.

Nice. You can now click the labels on a Trello card and it will show the text for the labels on all cards.

Back to winter coaching with the RGU boys and David Orr. A few takeaways to work on.

I haven’t seen the Buffalo Bills play like this for years. Great game to watch.

Trying to put together the parts for a monthly newsletter aimed at both Rails developers and Rails product owners/team leaders. We’ll see how it goes.

For a long time, I’ve been a user of Path. A social media network for those who want a level a level of privacy. It was another Twitter or Instagram but only for those that wanted to keep their timeline limited only to a few people.

In a time when everyone was sharing everything and anything, it was great to see a product that changed it’s approach to sharing.

I was happy for a few years there. Sharing moments with the family and knowing that anything I shared there would be private.

As other social media networks started to move on with new features, it felt like Path was falling behind.

To make themselves relevant again, Path split their app into two different apps. One for sharing to your timeline and another for messaging. The messaging feature was simple, but the decision to share the messaging to a separate app just looked crazy. At the time I already had many other messaging apps. I didn’t need another.

Thankfully, they’ve since merged the two apps again.

Then Path decided they needed a little extra money. So they decided to launch a subscription tier that would include a bunch of stickers on your account so that you could, you know, put stickers on your posts and comments on Path. It’s not the kind of feature that I would want to pay money for, but that’s what they were offering.

As time marched on, I slowly reduced my posting frequency to Path and instead opted for an Instagram account. Despite my preconceptions about it, I’m happier posting stuff on Instagram than I ever did on Path. The whole experience is spot on for me, and there are very few elements of the social media network that I don’t like. I even use it for messaging with Jennifer and family in Canada.

Having not posted to Path in some time I revisited the app a few weeks ago and discovered some changes.

First, you can now share stories on Path, much like Instagram and Snapchat.

Secondly, you can now share your Path moments publicly and even follow other people, even if you don’t know them. There is still a level of privacy with Path, but it appears to have been eaten up by the need for Path to be a competitor with Instagram.

With Path changed so much in the last few months, I’ve entirely stopped posting to it and now post to Instagram which in turn, posts to my micro-blog.

My problem with Path isn’t that they’ve started charging for a premium tier, it's a fact their now another Instagram clone and sharing many of the same features that Instagram has. I don’t need another Instagram but nor do I need Path these days. I’m happy to share moments on Instagram, and that’s it.

I never thought I would see the day where I would be dissing on Path, but their recent changes have been features that I will never use.

The last nail in the coffin for me and Path though is that you can’t export your content from Path in any form. I emailed Path’s support team about this. They answered that I should disable my account. Not what I was hoping for, by my request for an export facility has been passed onto the Path team, but I’m not holding my breath for it to appear anytime soon.