Will Facebook Ever Burn-Out?

So I'm talking with my Father-In-Law who is convinced that Facebook is one of those "dot coms" that will be gone tomorrow. And while in a way I can't say that I blame him, having been through a VC funded .com startup, I can say that I don't see Facebook leaving us like a drunken mall gypsy that stole a mini van.

That being said there's many reasons why this is the case, they are as follows (but are not limited too):

• We put an amazing amount of personal time into nurturing and communication with our account, therefore the ability to break-up with it becomes harder and harder the longer we maintain the relationship.
• They have created both a B2C and B2B platforms respectively, with pages and profiles. I'd consider a tonal variation to denote this but I digress.
• Based on the "Likes" that I submit to my profile the more granular and topical the information I tend to find myself in. I find that people within my faceposse' tend to gravitate to various link-minded topics. And do to the way that Facebook puts your your life on display (given that you've set your privacy settings to make it so) you find yourself quickly attached to people within the same conversational and topical mindset.
• The UI, while it changes seemingly constantly, it's pretty user-friendly and revisions to its layout are more often than not progressively better.
• Facebook as a revenue model! OMG, what a concept. Beyond simply advertising, their are Facebook "credits"  (and soon Zynga's "rewardville") that are available at most all major department stores.
• Lastly, they have a progressive acquisition model that adopts pretty sound technologies, therefore it's not a .com, it's a cluster of relevant properties that support an overall initiative.

While I'm not a Facebook fanboy per se I will say that I use it for a great many things outside of simply just communication. I will explore these in my next post.

So what are your thoughts? Share this article with your friends and give me your thoughts and comments below. Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you.

Comments

[JT]

I'm now inspired to start a FB fan page for drunken women who wear gypsy costumes on Halloween.

[Justice Mitchell]

Johnathan,

It appears that you mock the mall gypsy. For thousands of years they have filled our markets, our malls and our stables selling the valuable wears that make up our culture. Where would we be without the silver polish, the remote control pocket helicopters, belt buckles, vanity cell phone accessories and personal sized clothing steamers? Do you want to live in a world where you can go through the mall without being accosted and then mocked upon fleeing in another language? I think not.

[JT]

Dude, I would love to chat about this. But I'm on my way to the mall to get my face put on the cover of either "Rolling Stone" or "Forbes," I can't decide which. And for you, I'll pick up a styrofoam glider that loops up above the food court comes right back to your waiting hands every time.

[Ezra Wierda]

My family and I were propositioned by a gypsy at a strip mall once, she came to us while we were loading groceries into our car and asked us if we wanted to buy some socks which she so thoughtfully had in a shopping bag already. Apparently she was the mystic who stole all of the socks from our washers bringing about the "onesies" epidemic in so many households.
We never saw her again....
I use Facebook as a cheap way to get a fan base for my art. When you think about it, the average person checks their FB page about 2-6 times a day which far outweighs the 1 time they sit down to watch TV.

[Justice Mitchell]

Erza,

Check out my post today on Facebook and business as well. There's more goodness to come!