There's this weird idea going around. Simply put, it's the belief that if I make it, it must be worth money. That's garbage. Look at what I've done here…
These days we're so overwhelmed with information and new shit that it's so easy to be nothing more than a consumer. We don't have the time to try to think of anything new. Every once in awhile, we come up with an idea and it's such a shock that we are convinced this must be of value. Unfortunately, chances are shit's been done before. Even Facebook is nothing new. It's just an improvement on Livejournal, Friendster, and Myspace… It's not even a new idea. To that end, neither was 4chan really. Both have the distinction of being the most popular one so far, but even then, there are plenty of naysayers who will point out the failings of both… (OH HI)
If anyone ever asks me, I'll be glad to tell them the failing of social networking. The Internet is a delivery method. It's not a product from which you can directly make money. How many highways are profitable? Well, lots actually, that's why they build them, but they're only profitable in a huge roundabout fashion. There's no easy way for anyone to make money off of a highway. It's the same with the Internet. Sure there are trucking companies (that pay for the highways in a roundabout fashion and profit from them) but they've been around forever and know the game. You as some guy can't just enter the industry and except to make money. Likewise, you'll never compete with Amazon and eBay. These companies know what they're doing and they're the biggest players in the industry…
Social networking sites come and go and it's surprising that none manage to stick around and become established. Perhaps that's the goal of the latest monster. Maybe they do know what they're doing.
Facebook and the service it provides is not the product of the company. In the end, Facebook has a certain advantage that few companies have ever had before. They know who your friends are, your interests, their interests, your income, their income and they know it because its users simply hand over this information without a second thought. The only disadvantage it has is that having a Facebook is not a legal requirement…
The problem that all social networking sites has is that there is nothing physical about their company or their idea. If anything, Facebook came along at about the right time. Its forebears started at a time when using the Internet wasn't nearly as common for the common person. The trouble they're going to run into is that the common user is becoming smarter and less likely to divulge information online or worse, they're going to give false information. In the end, is it any more or less effective than doing surveys? In a way it is because at least these people know how to turn on a computer… Then again, can't anyone these days?
For the time being, the Internet is a losing proposition. Without a physical product to sell, what's the point? People don't click on ads. They see ads every day on every site and worse than that, they basically don't see the ads at all. Unless you get people to directly pay for the service (or at least a portion of them for upgrades), how will it ever make money? But if you make people pay for it, they'll jump ship to the next big thing that will have the same dilemma…
Maybe the suggestion for the next big thing is to aim far lower. They need fewer staff, less overhead, and basically build themselves around subsisting entirely off of those mortgage refinancing ads with grumpy old men on them…