Death of Web 2.0 may be overstated

Although headlines like "Death of Web 2.0" get people like me to click through to read articles, the more moderate tone of the closing paragraph in Peter's Schwartz' article in the Huffington Post gave me the most food for thought -

The lesson is clear. Social information and communication requires targeted aim, meaningful purpose, and self-correcting standards of quality. Universal social networks such as Facebook, almost by definition, cannot maintain this focus. For this reason, they cannot survive in their current form.

While I'm not convinced that the demise of Facebook is coming anytime soon, I absolutely agree with Schwartz' comment on the value provided by social networks organized around a purpose.   This is one of our mantra's here at Viewpoints...we collect reviews and social comments/interactions on products and services and organize them systematically to provide tangible benefits to other users.  

Social networks produce a WEALTH of information, but I often wonder at how useful that info is.  While I have frequently updated my FB status expressing my delight (or disgust) as various parts of my home renovation project were completed - honestly, how informative was that to anyone else updating their kitchen?  In contrast, my review on Viewpoints about using Blanco's square sinks in my kitchen has the potential to provide a ton more value to someone considering a similar endeavor because there is a clear purpose on Viewpoints - helping people make smarter purchase decisions.

So while I completely agree with parts of Peter Schwartz's opinion, I still don't think facebook has to worry.  In MY informal survey of friends of mostly 30 something friends, we'd all pay $50 or more to keep our facebook accounts.