I agree that it is a utility. However unlike water or electricity, Facebook is free service subsidized by advertisements. That's a pretty horrible business model because they have to extract value from their users by reducing their privacy, controlling their information and identity, and cluttering their communication channels with noise.

> That's a pretty horrible business model

It hasn't has yet proved to be an unsuccessful business model though.

Because their main costs are detached from their main revenue streams they have no way to accurately price how much a user costs them and how much value they provide. That's what makes it a horrible business model. How do you optimize what you can't accurately measure?