With the Facebook IPO we again have a few billionaires and a few hundred new millionaires who the media will now follow like moths to an outdoor floodlight. I am trying to figure out why Facebook would be worth 100 billion dollars in stock. Of what real economic value is a website that consists of lots of people showing pictures of their dogs, complaining about their weight and showing photos of their gardens and kids be? It is strange that the platform that is most used for our gossip is valued so highly. It is sad in a way. As an economic catalyst it seems vapid and surely ends up wasting a lot of peoples time. Facebook will never need to hire vast numbers of people, however companies now have to pay attention and hire people to manage their Facebook fan pages and control the spin.
Fifty years ago, a newspaper company would be worth something. Perhaps substantial journalism was created beyond the 255-character limit of Facebook. Full-page ads would be purchased for good money and the classifieds kept the whole ship afloat. In the end, you could make archives of the work and have nice anthologies with quality articles. Imagine this happening with content on Facebook. When it does happen it will be short blurbs that will be perhaps called “Viral Facebook Hits” and will be of the quality of Esquire magazine.
In order for Facebook to actually be worth $100 billion dollars it will have to go beyond gossip. I will have to be a place people go to buy something like Amazon or Ebay. It will perhaps be better about promoting regional events and maybe get into other areas of commerce. Mark my words. If they get into any aggressive advertising it will be its downfall. There are innocent people who think that Facebook is theirs. It may be their content in small, bite-sized morsels, but they are giving way both their hours and privacy. In the end, the content on Facebook is of value only to people who write it and two other groups – the CIA and the FBI. Why go through the trouble of tapping phone lines and waiting outside in dark cars. The evidence will be online.