"The architectural view in which search, social, and browsing are distinct is a distraction that does not map to the experienced reality of most people and that is in fact conceptually arbitrary with respect to the tasks that people actually seek to accomplish on the Web. In a sense, we're missing the Web for the tabs."
@robin, 2023
Good to know I'm not alone in thinking social browsers are a logical iteration on both the document web browser, and the social media app.
"Rather than trying to enforce that separation because we believe in theoretical purity, we should lean into our users' experience and consider browsers moving up the application stack as agents, eating up search and social as protocols."
@robin, 2023
https://berjon.com/bigger-browser/
Exactly. We have a number of candidates for the social protocol. What about the search protocol?
"... any number of typical features ... would work better if they were in people's hands: recommendations, search & social filters, content and people blocking, identity, comments, shopping cart management, subscription & membership management. All of these would strongly benefit from from an agent eating up the stack with a form of server component (local-first with sync)."
@robin, 2023
https://berjon.com/bigger-browser/
Yes! In case it's not clear outside the context of the article, "agent" = browser.
"This isn't made-up money, it's money that comes from the Web economy. Just looking at the two top browsers we've found a 90+% profit margin being extracted out of the Web and put elsewhere and something like 28+17=28+17= $45bn that could go to funding Web projects but that instead pays for unrelated Google/Apple products and for profits to be handed out to their shareholders."
@robin, 2023
https://berjon.com/bigger-browser/
Is this comparable to what DataFarmers extract from the online Social economy?
This commentary applies just as much to politics as to digital tech. In fact, like politics and economics, I'm no longer convinced it makes sense to talk about them as separate things.
"It's not in a good place and I feel the need for more vision work and much more thinking about architectural interventions that can bring about radical change. If nothing else, it can help us gain a sense of direction, perhaps stir up discussion."
@robin, 2023
(1/2)
"Proceeding via small, incremental changes can be a laudable approach, but even then it helps to have a sense for what it is that those small steps are supposed to be incrementing towards. After all, a headless chicken takes it one step at a time as well."
@robin, 2023
That last line nails it : P
(2/2)
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