

Why Facebook is not the future of the web - bootload
http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2007/12/why_facebook_is_not_the_future1.html?ref=most_discussed

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sanj
This article is crap. It is poorly argued, poorly written _and_ it is full of
typos.

It is a series of empty statements:

1\. Growth: Yes, it will plateau. So what? The question is revenues, not
users.

2\. Not for Sale: Every company maintains that illusion with their public
persona. An IPO is hugely distracting for everyone involved. You don't burn
that bridge until you need to cross it.

3\. Respect Users: Why, exactly, does that lead to failure? Microsoft users
don't expect respect. Apple users crave flagellation from the great Steve.
Facebook doesn't even pretend to "not be evil".

4\. Lawsuit: Name a company with >250 people that doesn't have a lawsuit.
Money attracts lawyers.

5\. Useless: That's what much of the web _IS_. For much of the world it is a
giant distraction.

I use YC to keep stuff like this from wasting my time!

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neilk
Well, duh. Facebook is just one website, therefore it's not the future of the
web.

But, the concept of newsfeed of highly personalized notifications, based on
established relationships with other entities -- this might be around for a
long while. Once liberated from an individual website it should suck a lot
less.

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alaskamiller
Eww.. That's a horrible future for the web.

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ashu
And why exactly?

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simianstyle
The fact that they're valued as much as GE and yet still can't make any money
w/o investors speaks volumes.

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mwerty
You mean GM I think. GE is worth 20 times as much.

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mooneater
Its time for facebook scrapers - distributed, with human-ish delays between
click. Grabs names, pictures, emails (with OCR). Welcome to the downloadable
social!

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tmdg
I don't see how Facebook growing quickly can be a bad thing. Would it be
better to grow at a slower rate?

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axod
I'd rather slow sustainable growth, than hype filled growth. Facebooks growth
is hot air... which at some point will all come pouring out.

