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Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

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Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#11

Post by dasil003 »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #6

> Facebook knows more than all of us like to admit about its users. They have our personal information […] People will eventually realize what a dystopia this is. So my guess is that Facebook (and similar services) will become obsolete soon (within a decade or two). Just sell easy to use personal web servers[1] that you just plug into the wall, and they are toast ($99 is much cheaper than my privacy). [1] By "easy",…

That's a nice utopian vision from someone aware of our eroding privacy, but the only way the average consumer would care enough about privacy for that to be viable in the market would be for Facebook's data to grow a couple orders of magnitude more comprehensive then it is now over the next decade. Then if the US government were replaced by east-german style totalitarian regime to the point that violent revolution was eventually necessary, then, at that point people would be ready for their own private hosted service appliances.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#12

Post by robryan »

ct4ul4u wrote: post #5

I don't think Facebook is buyable right now. Consider how wide the PDF of its future values is. There is a chance that Facebook will be bigger than Google. I'm sure many of you have reasons why it won't happen, but it is plausible. It's certainly what Facebook management is shooting for. Alternatively, Facebook could be out of fashion in 2 years. Don't forget that we work in a fashion industry. It wouldn't even be wo…

No they have a better one (connect).

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#13

Post by Carcarius »

So, will Facebook destroy the Internet or simply change it's identity? Change it's identity, haha, get it ... ahem... (:P

Personally, I don't like where this is heading. I deactivated my account (can't delete it outright for some reason!) so I should no longer have a presence on facebook. However, this is not the case since I can log back in and my account is instantly re-activated. Whatever I shared on that site previously will always be there.

The privacy concerns are a serious problem and I think people need to critically look at this and decide if this is what they want their Internet experience to be going forward.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#14

Post by rbanffy »

sunchild wrote: post #4

"If you are like most, you kill more time hopping around on Facebook than you do exploring the Net." Uhhh...not even remotely applicable to me, unless by "the Net" he is referring to a Sandra Bullock movie.

I think I spent 90 minutes on that movie. That's probably more than I have spent on Facebook.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#15

Post by roc »

timdellinger wrote: post #7

I suppose Mark Cuban thinks Facebook is going to turn into a 1991 AOL: a one-stop shop for all things internet, a lens through which you experience everything. This is the same Mark Cuban who said that Twitter will replace Google for searching... I think he's a little out of touch with how people use these services. Facebook is attempting to expand in scope because they're ambitious, but at the end of the day, they'r…

> I suppose Mark Cuban thinks Facebook is going to turn into a 1991 AOL: a one-stop shop for all things internet, a lens through which you experience everything.

For everyone I know that actually uses Facebook [1], this is essentially true. FB users don't do things on the net. They do things on FB. Excursions to sites/services outside of Facebook are the exception.

I've been calling it "AOL all-over-again" for a few years now. (I'm behind the curve, I'm sure; I don't do social networks).

[1] Subtracting out those who use it for professional reasons.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#16

Post by timcederman »

sunchild wrote: post #4

"If you are like most, you kill more time hopping around on Facebook than you do exploring the Net." Uhhh...not even remotely applicable to me, unless by "the Net" he is referring to a Sandra Bullock movie.

The article did say "like most", not "like all".

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#17

Post by eplanit »

When was the last time you surfed the net? 5 seconds ago.

Can you remember when you just clicked around looking to discover new sites or a site to occupy your time? Yes, I remember this morning.

Now ask yourself when was the last time you sat on your couch or laid in bed clicking the remote looking for something to watch on TV? I remember last evening quite well.

Finally, how long do you regularly spend on Facebook ? Zero, nada, nuttin'.

How much time do you spend checking out your Wall, your friends’ Wall and hopping from profile to profile checking people out? First, I thought the previous question was "finally"...Still, Zero, nada, nuttin'

And, I'm not alone, not by a longshot.

I've heard non-tech news commentators make the mistake that Facebook is somehow a distinct technology than the Internet on which it lives. I think the author of the article is similarly confused. Does he/she see cars as the new freeways?

Facebook loves to try and define itself as "a platform". I guess to see one's self that way, one must deny or ignore the actual platform on which one depends. For the gullible in its ranks, that characterization seems to work well.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#18

Post by olefoo »

Carcarius wrote: post #13

So, will Facebook destroy the Internet or simply change it's identity? Change it's identity, haha, get it ... ahem... (:P Personally, I don't like where this is heading. I deactivated my account (can't delete it outright for some reason!) so I should no longer have a presence on facebook. However, this is not the case since I can log back in and my account is instantly re-activated. Whatever I shared on that site pre…

> can't delete it outright for some reason!

The hotel California approach to growing your userbase.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#19

Post by SanjayU »

roc wrote: post #15
timdellinger wrote: post #7

I suppose Mark Cuban thinks Facebook is going to turn into a 1991 AOL: a one-stop shop for all things internet, a lens through which you experience everything. This is the same Mark Cuban who said that Twitter will replace Google for searching... I think he's a little out of touch with how people use these services. Facebook is attempting to expand in scope because they're ambitious, but at the end of the day, they'r…

> I suppose Mark Cuban thinks Facebook is going to turn into a 1991 AOL: a one-stop shop for all things internet, a lens through which you experience everything. For everyone I know that actually uses Facebook [1], this is essentially true. FB users don't do things on the net. They do things on FB. Excursions to sites/services outside of Facebook are the exception. I've been calling it "AOL all-over-again" for a few…

Gotta agree on this one.

Re: Is Facebook the new Internet and how soon before Microsoft tries to buy it?

#20

Post by tokenadult »

Carcarius wrote: post #13

So, will Facebook destroy the Internet or simply change it's identity? Change it's identity, haha, get it ... ahem... (:P Personally, I don't like where this is heading. I deactivated my account (can't delete it outright for some reason!) so I should no longer have a presence on facebook. However, this is not the case since I can log back in and my account is instantly re-activated. Whatever I shared on that site pre…

I deactivated my account (can't delete it outright for some reason!)

I haven't tried this myself, but here

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703

is supposedly advice on how to permanently delete a Facebook account. Maybe some HN participant will do the experiment and report back to us how it goes.

I do know (from my son trying the experiment) that Facebook account deactivation is very rapidly reversible.

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