Facebook: Caught in the Virtual Vapour Trail

Hmmm, is there a place for an aging baby boomer in the king of social networks?

I learned this week that Facebook is about the break the 2 billion mark in users. Do you need to see that figure in numbers to grasp it? Here you go: 2,000,000,000. What’s more, Facebook is still growing at an exponential rate – expanding its user base by 17% in the past year.

It is difficult to put that figure in perspective. But it may help to know that this figure represents somewhere between one quarter to one third of the total world population. Quite the accomplishment for a company that started a mere 13 years ago as a social network for U.S. college students.

I did a bit of research and was astonished to learn that Facebook has acquired 63 other companies in the course of its meteoric rise. The most expensive of these acquisitions:

What’s App (mobile instant messaging) in 2014 for $19 billion
Oculus VR (virtual reality technology) in 2015 for $2 billion
Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion

The fact that I have never heard of two of these companies, which sold for more money than I could lay my hands on in a million lifetimes, tells me how out of touch I am with the world of social networks and technology in general.

I was also taken aback to learn that most of these 63 acquisitions were talent acquisitions with the acquired products often shutdown. Mark Zuckerberg is on record as saying that Facebook has never once bought a company for the company. The goal is always to acquire the talented people running, or employed by, the organization.

I have delved into the Facebook phenomenon a few times in this blog reaching for metaphors to put it into perspective:

In “Facebook: 400 Million Threads in the Web of Life”, I argued that Facebook is becoming a metaphor for an entirely new “web of life”. It has the power to fundamentally alter who we are and how we interact. What frightens me is that we may not be in control, or even aware, of the change that is taking place.

In “Facebook: From Virtual Space to Outer Space”, I commented that Facebook is leading the charge into the internet-dominated world of the future. It is no longer a question of whether Facebook’s explosive growth is a good thing or a bad thing. The only question remaining is: Are you tech savvy enough to scramble on board the new age bandwagon or will you be left behind spinning in the virtual vapour trail?

I fear that I am one of those choking on the virtual vapour trail. But Mark, in case you are interested, I am available for hire. I do not have dazzling technical skills. But I am available at a bargain basement price and might be useful to you in providing the perspective of an aging baby boomer and digital immigrant. I am standing by my phone waiting for your call.

~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog .

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