people (including me) will show great resistance since they have so much time invested in FB
The solution is to make something that can coexist with Facebook which solves the problems with using FB. The truth is that you don't have to absorb someone's entire social graph. You only really want the approximate 20% they talk to about 80% of the time. That's the part with most of the value anyhow. In fact, knowing what that 20% is might be even more valuable than having the entire graph. What this means is that a genuinely useful Facebook adjunct can easily map out the most valuable part of the Facebook graph.
Note that Myspace and Facebook coexisted for awhile.
Good point! Cringely was talking about the disadvantages of huge social graphs recently, too (http://www.cringely.com/2010/05/lets-get-small/). I don't think so. I think the interesting messages coming from the 80% I communicate 20% of the time may be even more valuable, e.g. to casually keep in touch, learn interesting stuff, etc.
A social app is not just status messages.How will the Google social app easily absorb all the photos, etc. I'm sharing in FB? What if the friends I enjoy on FB decide not to join the Google thing? I think tehse are huge drawbacks. Look at Plaxo, Ning, etc. They are just wannabes in this space.
You are right about MySpace and FB, but the crowds they were catering to quickly diverged. That also explains how LinkedIn can thrive independent of FB.
The solution is to make something that can coexist with Facebook which solves the problems with using FB. The truth is that you don't have to absorb someone's entire social graph. You only really want the approximate 20% they talk to about 80% of the time. That's the part with most of the value anyhow. In fact, knowing what that 20% is might be even more valuable than having the entire graph. What this means is that a genuinely useful Facebook adjunct can easily map out the most valuable part of the Facebook graph.
Note that Myspace and Facebook coexisted for awhile.