

"We are witnessing the beginning of the end of Facebook" - thafman
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/07/rushkoff.facebook.myspace/

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dmvaldman
Haters gonna hate.

This article upsets me. Not just because it grosssly oversimplifies everything
to make a point, nor because of its complete journalistic negligence (what
about companies in competitive markets that have dominated their competitors?
why isn't FB vs myspace like netflix vs blockbuster? etc etc. And AOL was
merged...how does this related to FB? ugh). But for something deeper...

Maybe I just woke up in an angry mood, but this article is written for the
sole purpose of being able to say "I told you so" if indeed somewhere down the
line Facebook does tank. It is this "contrarian for publicity's sake" attitude
that really creeps under my skin and makes me upset at the world.

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ameyamk
I wish author would have given more details on why he thinks Facebook is
doomed than just pointing to other doomed companies like AOL and MySpace. The
only other point he makes is Goldman's investment. (I am sure many of the
Goldman investments actually paid off not by betting against them).

When it comes to social networks, I think this space remains a natural
monopoly (Just like OS was before internet days). And by creating open graph,
facebook is eliminating need of another social network.

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lwhi
I agree - it would be nice to have a run down of the sequence of events that
will lead to its demise.

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nano81
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2081211>

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mildweed
While that is a valid correlation, and that history is a good predictor of the
future, Facebook still has a lot of fight left in it. Their Graph API is
powerful and their business offerings are strong. Yes, some new service might
rear its head and challenge FB, but FB has more staying power and real-world
integration than MySpace or Friendster had. (AOL had real-world integration,
but their fall was a broken business model).

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noelchurchill
Media companies have a poor track record when it comes to acquiring big
internet properties, as the author points out.

Goldman Sachs is a whole different story. Look up their investment profit
track record and it tells a very successful story.

So what I'm really saying is comparing Goldman to Newscorp or Time Warner is a
very bad analogy.

This may still be the beginning of the end for Facebook, and I wouldn't be
surprised if Goldman rips Facebook to shreds to extract maximum profit, but
the authors analogy doesn't hold water.

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yzhengyu
Sensationalist article which probably allows the author to say "I told you
so". Rushkoff is probably right .. in a decade or so if the leadership at
Facebook becomes incompetent. By then, the rich clients of Goldman Sachs and
all the private investors are all laughing to the bank to the sound of ringing
cashiers.

