Text is not Dead

Is Facebook becoming too powerful? Now able to financially support itself and cash-flow positive, Facebook is clearly not following in the path of the less fortunate predecessor, MySpace.  Not surprisingly, reactions to Facebook’s continuing success range between anticipation of future investment opportunities and anxiety over a monster gaining momentum.  I never joined MySpace, so I, unfortunately, don’t know what makes their models so different and left only one to survive the competition.  I do, however, wonder if the same will happen in the Twitter Facebook competition.  One of Facebook’s strategies is to take on the features of Twitter, leading people to prefer one platform and creating an environment that seems a bit like that of the Highlander: in the end, there can be only one.

I wonder if it’s the must-collect-subscribers nature of both that raises worries over addiction to these powerhouse social sites.  One site actually provides a guide for weaning oneself off of Facebook. The steps begin with admitting you have a problem to finding a suitable substitute.

The question I have upon reading these articles is what happens to the hapless consumers in this cutthroat competition?  Are we given the benefit of watching the best possible platform emerge or are we falling victim to the commercialism of them both and becoming addicted?