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A comment on The end of Facebook. Parent comment

Re:The end of Facebook by DrJokepu on Thursday June 16, 2011 @08:28AM (#2660949)
It's usually not competitors that can hurt or even kill a product, it's substitute goods. Cart manufacturers in the early 20th century didn't see their business diminishing because of the sudden emergence of a better cart manufacturer, it has happened because of the invention of the automobile.

Similarly, if something threatens Facebook's position, it's quite possible that it will be a substitute product, not a direct competitor. A significant substitute product of Facebook is real life interactions with your friends, for example.

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Re:The end of Facebook by dagw on Thursday June 16, 2011 @08:38AM (#2660970)
A significant substitute product of Facebook is real life interactions with your friends, for example.

I think that's totally missing the point. I don't think anyone uses Facebook as a substitute for real life interaction. I imagine that most people use it partially to coordinate the meeting up with said friends and partially to interact with people whom, due geography or various life circumstances, it is infeasible to meet up with in real life. I doubt there are many people who'd rather sit at home and read their friend's Facebook updates if they have the option to pop around the corner and meet them face to face.

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Re:The end of Facebook by DrJokepu on Thursday June 16, 2011 @08:41AM (#2660982)
I know way too many people personally who do exactly that. I'll let other decide if it's a good or a bad thing, but in my experience an awful lot of people use social networks instead of real life interactions. I think those of us who live far away from our friends and family are in minority.
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Re:The end of Facebook by chadgeidel on Thursday June 16, 2011 @11:07AM (#2661553)
About half of my Facebook friends (IRL) are actually too far away to meet up with in real life. Facebook is a handy way to "keep up".

Unfortunately they don't post as often as I would like - instead preferring to talk "face to face". :-(

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Re:The end of Facebook by jetz on Thursday June 16, 2011 @08:55AM (#2661026)
I agree that an incumbent is very hard to be beaten head-on. Examples: Google on search. Microsoft on OS or Office.

Over time monopolistic players start to be everything for everybody. This may be just fine but in addition to that they promote bloat at the expense of their main product's usability. That's when new players emerge.

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