Facebook Will Disappear in 5 to 8 Years: Analyst

CNBC ^ | 6/4/12 | Cadie Thompson

[Lmo56]

Heartily concur. FB only has personal info/data to mine and sell to potential advertisers.

BUT, a lot of users will be PO'd if this happens. Then, they will drop FB, leading advertisers to drop [like GM did].

At least Google has something of a worthwhile marketing plan. It sells space on its search results page on the basis of ACTUAL searches.

Like, if I search for a widget to buy, then I see companies advertising widgets for sale. I don't mind, since I am actually looking to purchase one.

OTOH, FB can only glean my interests from my FB Page, and then PUSH ads toward me [whether I want them or not].

That is why I have a FB account with NO PERSONAL INFO in it. I am only on FB so I can see friends' FB pages ...

[OrangeHoof]

Of course it will. Just like MySpace, somebody will build a better, fancier one and all the lemmings will flock to that until someone builds an even better one (and possibly a more exclusive one so only the "cool" people are allowed to join, etc.

Just like the telephone, it's all about staying in the "cool" group while avoiding the "uncool" group so the cool group will get tired of being lumped in with all the other tag-alongs and invent their own new social media site so they can be "cool" again.

I'd never invest in Facebook. But if I had money, I'd invest in tattoo removal. Once the lemmings decide tats are no longer cool, some people are in line to make a fortune.

[Harley]

Oh crap, that long. I read the other day that 1/3 of all divorce cases now have the word Facebook in them.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Facebook is like eBay.

ALL sellers go to eBay because that’s where the buyers are. MOST buyers go to eBay because that’s where the sellers are.

Same for Facebook. MySpace never was close to ubiquity. Facebook is the one where grandparents find their grandkids, and vice versa.

And probably always will be.

How’s that Google alternative working out for all you Betamax viewers?

[randog]

You’re right—narcissism never goes out of style, it just morphs.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I read the other day that 1/3 of all divorce cases now have the word Facebook in them.

---

It used to be “telephone” or “saloon” where people interacted.

[Lmo56]

it's all about staying in the "cool" group

FB is trying to be too big for its britches.

If it charged users like $1/month to use it, it might lose 200-300 million users, but would still gross about $500 million/month.

It could then add services and innovate - charging those who want to use the enhanced services a minimal amount more.

This is waay better than trying to depend on the advertising model ...

[svcw]

Hum? Yahoo is profitable, and has 13,000 employees and it has disappeared. ok?

[umgud]

Wait until everybody figures out Carbonite might have a limited lifespan with everybody’s files in the cloud.

[lesko]

I’m hoping 5 to 8 days.

[Williams]

Agree

[Williams]

For a brief time, Yahoo was the most valuable company on Earth.

[dfwgator]

“All glory is fleeting.”

[Lmo56]

“All glory is fleeting.”

But, Zuckerberg got the cash from the chumps who bought the stock on the day of the IPO ...

[bigbob]

I’d give them half-life of another 3-4 years so comes out the same. I find it interesting that even FB has admitted in SEC filings that it’s having difficulty “monetizing” the shift to mobile users. So isn’t the mantra that everything on the internet is supposed to be freeeeee? Except when that screws the guys who are making all the cool apps for you and your FB friends to use need to pay the bills...then freeeee isn’t freeeee anymore. Just ask the NYT or your daily newspaper. FBs IPO flopped because they couldn’t convince investors their business model was sound. FB is an advertizing medium, all the social networking jazz is just a way to make the ad model work.

[Baynative]

It is amazing that the intelligent people on Wall Street fell for this after all the falsely inflated dotcom stocks that fell apart just a few short years ago. (Even though it was Bush's fault)

[DemforBush]

It wouldn’t surprise me. The net keeps evolving, so it follows that someone will come up with a better/newer/etc. mousetrap. I’ve never been a FB kind of guy in the first place, so it doesn’t matter to me much, but I would not be surprised to see it surpassed in the next few years.

Then again, I’m mystified by the success of Twitter. I honestly figured it would have gone the way of Snapvine (remember that one?) and the like by now.

[Random Access]

Never base your long term business plan on the whims of 13 year old girls with an attention span of 2 hours. LOL, OMG!!!

[mylife]

Ive asked Jim to create a Freeper Sales Swapmeet page.

Take 1% and end the freepathons or at least put a dent in them and add to the revenue while providing a service.