OK, it’s September. The power players in the media world have completed their ‘summering’ and can now return to the passion of their lives – ridding the world of boredom and malaise by producing films, TV shows, games and websites. So… it’s great to be back.
The title of this blog is truly remarkable and, frankly, bullshit.
I received the chart to the left from a friend of mine at Facebook (which was pulled from a recent management presentation).
Takeaway: The number of Facebook users by 2015 will EXCEED THE EARTH’S POPULATION.
Sounds impossible I know. But I suppose nothing is impossible when it comes to Facebook. Because at Facebook it’s not “Impossible”, it’s “I’m Possible”.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog titled “Facebook Is Worthless”. I stand by the arguments in that blog (even though I received the wrath of many a Facebook insider who doesn’t want to see the value of their stock options go down) because, no matter what Facebook senior management tries to tell the press, no one seriously believes they are profitable. I believe the real numbers would freak too many people out who are praying for an IPO in the near future.
Just because everyone is on it doesn’t mean the future is bright. Just look at the AOL and Microsoft monopolies in the 1990s.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
Jill Kennedy is a former media analyst for a major Wall Street investment bank that has now gone out of business (in disgrace).
Medea was a real bitch from classical mythology - as most famously dramatized by Euripides.
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Fred Thomas Fred says:
September 15, 2010 at 3:46 pm (UTC -7 )
I can believe that. I personally have 3 sign ups. I’ve read that dead people are on FB. And there is a huge growth opportunity in dead people. They go back thousands of years.
Paul Bond says:
September 15, 2010 at 4:46 pm (UTC -7 )
500 million down. 6.5 billion to go!
Facebook User #423,547,089 says:
September 15, 2010 at 5:51 pm (UTC -7 )
I believe it.
Craig said says:
September 15, 2010 at 6:41 pm (UTC -7 )
Craig said come on, b, what a waste of time.
Loki says:
September 15, 2010 at 6:52 pm (UTC -7 )
So all third world poor starving countries are suddenly going to be decked out with fancy computers? Oh and running water and electricity? All babies and toddlers will have their own facebook profiles?
The world won’t end or be culled by the Bilderbergs in 2012?
I believe the population of the whole planet may hit 7.3 billion in 5 years but they won’t all be on facebook. You can still get on the internet without Facebook.
Facebook says:
October 11, 2010 at 9:52 am (UTC -7 )
I believe the graph, because Facebook is slowly taking over everything. All networked devices will have their own Facebook accounts, as well as animals, trees, etc. All of these added together will surpass the world’s human population.
Tyson F. Gautreaux says:
October 18, 2010 at 4:56 am (UTC -7 )
is asking, If Facebook didn’t exist, What would you be doing right now????????????????? (Answers below)
Yulanda Khubba says:
October 20, 2010 at 9:55 am (UTC -7 )
Hey there,Wonderful post, although i’m more curious in what will come out of the google vs facebook social network war. I have not discovered much news on it lately, which likely means that it’s definitely not that far off, but i’ve a idea its really going to really mean some significant changes to social networks. For me, i’d personally rather facebook left the battle still in the lead for the reason that google’s already large enough, and they currently hold excessive data on everyone. I do not believe both can exist though, either google’s social network will dominate or totally crash. What does everybody else feel?
John says:
February 24, 2011 at 5:15 pm (UTC -7 )
That’s classic Silicon Valley hype and your blog on FB being worthless is spot on. Not because they don’t have a real business model & can’t discover one but because their leadership is so into themselves and growth they’re not smart enough to realize even Google wouldn’t be what Google is today without Goto.com! If they hadn’t copied Bill Gross’s model and created AdWords, GOOG would be GOOGQ and in the pinks by now if traded at all. Of course, that’s just an assumption since I haven’t read the court records however, they decided to settle for 2.6m shares of GOOG to make him go away so, I believe it’s a safe assumption!
Love to hear your thoughts on Twitter.
Keep up the good work, someones gotta tell the truth before VC’s become TBTF and we gotta bail them out,too!
Regards,
John
Jule Devito says:
May 2, 2011 at 11:04 am (UTC -7 )
I’d be inclined to acknowledge with you here. Which is not something I usually do! I enjoy reading a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
Paul G says:
May 31, 2011 at 12:02 pm (UTC -7 )
This really made me laugh – I wonder what the target is for the number of ‘pet’ members? My wife and her friends set-up a fake Facebook profile for a blow-up doll (don’t ask), and I’m a friend with a Koala.
They have completely missed the point of competition.
I have a similar bearish view on the internet boom of 2010/11.
My worry is when Joe Public put’s his savings into Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter etc… shares. Is it possible 20 and 30 somethings are going to lose a lot of money?
I have written about this and the future of the internet (I have linked to you as a source, hope that’s OK):
Huh says:
June 13, 2011 at 5:55 pm (UTC -7 )
Don’t forget by 2015, dogs will use Facebooks too. Dot Bomb 2.0
May says:
June 14, 2011 at 2:01 am (UTC -7 )
Im already bored with Facebook, I havent login to post anything in days. I reached the point where I see theres no point in it. All I got are online friends from MMORPGs (who I can talk with in those games) and a bunch of family members who I didnt even know I had, and we still DONT talk to each other, they just added me, cause people seem to just like to add people to make their friends list increase. So those family members are still completely strangers to me. Another thing that bugs me is that I had to accept family members such as nephews… who are like 13 years old and less, they do nothing except play those small casual FB games but it bothers me cause, I cannot reject them, they will feel bad and I will have the rage of their moms too. Issue being that I cannot even be MYSELF on FB and I have to be careful with everything I write on status, etc. and try to avoid bad words cause of this. Also the fact of having family members with friends is annoying, cause its like… you wont never invite your parents to a party with your friends. I guess this is why many people have 2 accounts, one for friends, another for families.
Also I got to mention I have like 6 accounts cause once I was playing one of those FB casual games and I didnt want have nobody as neighbours, ahaha. After two days I found the effort to be pointless and now there are 5 completely dead accounts in FB. + my main account which Im planning not in use anymore. But it happens that everywhere I go now you HAVE TO SIGN UP with a FB account, even when that place has NOTHING to do with FB or networking of any kind.
Mr. Saturn says:
August 2, 2012 at 6:29 pm (UTC -7 )
I deleted my Facebook. Missed it for about two days, then realized that it was the best decision I ever made. Give it a try, you have two weeks to change your mind before it’s permanently gone. For what it’s worth, every person I know that’s deleted theirs was glad they did.
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