NinkobEiAnd barring some catastrophic business model disaster, it has one valuable commodity: LOTS OF LOYAL USERS.

Thats true.

The only current issues I can think of that might damage that is the continued cheapening of their privacy and security. Brand loyalty can be pretty strong though, and FaceBook sure is huge.

AmmoniteSystems like IRC and forum software are practical and have been picked up by billions of people for millions of websites, used because there is no better alternative.

FaceBook is just a novelty act that resides on a single website, its best practical use being ways for companies to connect and market to a large online audience (hardly useful for the end user). Sure, its embedding itself into people's lives, but so did MySpace and all that other junk that has since dried up and become nothing like its former self.

All it'll take for FaceBook to die is another person bettering it, or people getting bored of it.

And that Facebook killer would still be a social network/media. It's a new way of communicating, just like how centralized forums is a new way of doing what people used to do in newsgroups.

pr0n InspectorAnd that Facebook killer would still be a social network/media. It's a new way of communicating, just like how centralized forums is a new way of doing what people used to do in newsgroups.

I can see where you are coming from and I agree for the most part. However social networking, unlike other forms of "communication", is heavily aimed at a teenage young adult audience, as it was originally built for. This doesn't mean it can't be successful, but it will stop it from developing into something more than novelty and entertainment as far as I'm concerned.

Having been part of FaceBook for a few years, I can safely say it only helped marginally when it came to meaningful contact with friends and family. I'm not better or worse off than I was now I've deleted my account.

What do you think when you hear the word FaceBook? For me its: farmville, spamming of the 'like' button, and status updates usually consisting of bad jokes or pointless information. That speaks for itself.

Does this mean it will die eventually? Maybe not, but I sure hope it will.

IPO not worth it IMO

I personally don't see much more potential in facebooks future that'll increase it's value significantly enough to make these shares a worthwhile purchase (a few years too late Mark), especially as more people leave Facebook (I wouldn't mind seeing those figures on account deletions; deleting an account is much easier than it was when I left a few years ago [name was real, the rest of my details however :p ] ).

Arcikshow could they make such profit, are people really so stupid to buy extras and premiums in facebook games for money?

Facebook knows what you do all day, they know what you like, they know what you want. Other large companies care about this data and pay well for it. Though valuing it at 5 or 100 billion USD is a completely different story. Google does the same, our privacy is their main business.