Is "Erasable Internet" a Viable Future for the Internet?
When Snapchat's CEO rejected a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook, it created quite a buzz in technology circles. Snapchat is a photo messaging application that lets users take "Snaps"—photos, videos, etc.—and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their Snaps—after which they are hidden from the recipient's device and deleted from servers.
Snapchat's emergence creates an important separation in the Internet space—an Internet where the data stays forever and an Internet where the data is temporary. The latter represents the disruption caused by apps like Snapchat, often called Erasable Internet. The key question that comes to mind is—Are we headed toward an ephemeral Internet or continuing with one that is permanent?
A Fox News article argues that companies like Google and Facebook have built an Internet based on permanence—letting users share their statuses, photos, and videos—and should let this data stay, make it searchable, and in turn earn revenue by displaying the advertisements related to the content being shown. The revenue earned via advertisements is considered a major revenue source for these companies.
The permanence of the Internet is usually perceived as a given. So, why is Snapchat getting so popular with younger generations? An article on The Huffington Post reveals some of the reasons:
- There is an excitement in seeing something new every time you log in—and not seeing stale data.
- People feel excited by the scarcity effect, which is when you feel you will lose out on information if you delay logging in.
- Younger generations often want to see themselves as different from the rest of the crowd. The Snapchat slogan "It ain't Facebook." makes them feel differentiated.
Despite the popularity of Snapchat, it still appears to not have perfected the art of monetizing the service. With information being erased frequently, it will require serious questioning of the way online advertising has worked in the past—such as by displaying ads based on user preferences. This is grossly different from Google's model, which relies on making data searchable.
At the same time, the vulnerability of the permanent nature of the Internet was proven by the Snowden episode, which revealed that it is not difficult for any investigating agency to figure out your personal information and track it for unimaginable purposes.
Another case against permanent Internet could be that our digital reputations tend to get immortalized in permanency. In other words, it is very hard to change your reputation if a source of good or bad information remains for everyone to see—forever.
Though it’s expanding, Erasable Internet is still a very small portion of Internet data traffic. Erasable Internet is an exciting development that may lead to the formulation of a parallel Internet that is data-less, but it may be quite difficult for it to replace emails and traditional social media all at once.
