Flagpole wrote:
Mistaken. I understand it just fine. Tell me something relevant to this discussion that I don't know about Facebook. I'll bet you that you can't.
I didn't mean that to sound so unfriendly. I have just noticed that on LRC, people make huge claims that are very often wrong and/or way out in left field.
I responded b/c you seem to think that Facebook is merely a website that people go to for fun. Something that will eventually get boring and people will flock elsewhere.
As someone else mentioned, Facebook is so much more than a destination at this point. It is a way of communicating. I would never email a friend anymore. No one does. We either text or message on Facebook. Also, Facebook is how I share information. When I have a picture to share, I share it on Facebook, either to a group, a person or the public. I haven't "gone" to Facebook in months, but I use it everyday on my phone. It is how I communicate with people.
Also, consider how it works across websites when you are online. It is essentially the most trusted version of social sharing on the internet. Can you name another social sharing application or platform that is more widely used? Diquss, Open Social, etc..? None of those have the cache that Facebook has. Not even close.
Also, with almost a billion active users, it is a population of its own. New services will simply be acquired rather than build their own network. That is actually a joke in the industry. Anyone who says, "I want to be the next Facebook" is viewed as a philistine.
This is different than LRC or MySpace or Amazon. This is nebulous. This is like a shape-shifting amoeba that will continue to evolve. In fact, I'd argue that they are now leading the evolution. They are the tastemaker and they are the influencer.