I am predicting that eventually Facebook is going to go the way of MySpace and AOL, but I don't think that this quarter is indicative of the trend. Both the number of daily and monthly active users jumped by more than 100 million, and Facebook also increased their marketing and S&D expenditures by more than 100 million.
If someone were to suggest that Facebook will eventually fall, the raw data from this quarter will not provide a sufficient argument. My argument would come from the idea that Facebook is currently acting like a very greedy company, with aggressive publishing of advertisements and aggressive policies that may eventually scare away the user base.
Especially with the internet becoming increasingly aware of the lack of privacy vs. the usefulness of privacy, it would be easy for Facebook to end up on the list of "bad guys" if they don't tread carefully. My prediction is that they will eventually overstep their bounds in greed, but it's too early to be comfortable with that prediction.
I completely agree. Facebook is providing a platform in a market that has always been extremely volatile, and are using their position to make questionable decisions. It will back-fire eventually.
Personally, I can't honestly see facebook being nearly as central in 5 years time, if it exists at all. Some hot new thing will come along and do sharing better and everyone will jump all at once.
If someone were to suggest that Facebook will eventually fall, the raw data from this quarter will not provide a sufficient argument. My argument would come from the idea that Facebook is currently acting like a very greedy company, with aggressive publishing of advertisements and aggressive policies that may eventually scare away the user base.
Especially with the internet becoming increasingly aware of the lack of privacy vs. the usefulness of privacy, it would be easy for Facebook to end up on the list of "bad guys" if they don't tread carefully. My prediction is that they will eventually overstep their bounds in greed, but it's too early to be comfortable with that prediction.