Killer App Lies & Convergence Rants

We keep hearing the tech press refer to one technology killing another. I get it -- if it bleeds, it leads. But it oversimplifies the discussion. And over time it sets everyone up for disappointment -- killer, victim, media and most of all users.

Four Launches, No Funerals 
Remember how FriendFeed was going to kill Twitter? More recently Google Buzz was dealing the final blow to our 140-character-friend. Facebook's Placesz-Z-zzzz was going to kill Foursquare. And before Facebook's email news was even announced, it was deemed a Gmail killer. But I thought email is already on life support?

I refer to the killer, uh, overkill as The Highlander Complex. It's a nice, neat way to wrap up news into a classic story format of protagonist vs. antagonist. But history shows us it doesn't work.

Social Entertainment = MySpace 2.0
AOL and MySpace are two examples of "platforms that would (not) be (THE) king." And while they may have lost their respective battles for the crown, they're far from dead as a quick comparison of uniques between the two sites, Facebook, New York Times and MSN shows us.

Dave Knox walks through some great points on why MySpace's new deal with Facebook and a new focus gives the site a serious second wind. 

Attack of the Killer App
With apologies to Futurama, the term Killer App is actually well-intended. There's always room for innovation. But let's be realistic about it, not bombastic. Instead of obsolescence or sometimes, more specifically, disintermediation, we're usually talking about convergence.

kthxbye /rant