It's tough, I wish LinkedIn gave you the ability to reach only a segment of your connections. For some posts, I'd want only my close colleagues / former colleagues / school friends to see... for others, I want only people in my industry to see...
It's true... their thesis was to be a post-cable company, and then they end up getting acquired by a cable company... in theory I supposed Cheddar could have pull them into the future, but not looking great...
Agreed that we're still waiting for the killer app. The barriers to buying a headset is so large that social virality can't really take hold, even if people like a game.
The first true VR hit might be something that integrates really well with mobile. Then VR power users can tell their friends, and they'll have an easy way to try it out.
Even so, I do think we can expect a strong open web to emerge in VR. Some publishers & businesses will want to control the content & data they publish, which will push them to the open web. It's the same reason publishers don't publish all their content on Facebook.
That said, it will certainly take a while for an open web to emerge. And in any case, it seems likely that walled gardens will always have a powerful place in the ecosystem.
There are ways that AI can be additive, rather than stir up so much ill-will & controversy.
Rolling Stone, for example, experimented with AI openly & creatively in a way that builds connections between the writers and readers: https://www.businessside.co/p/rolling-stone-experiments-with...