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Health & Fitness

Is Facebook a Fad?

Some thoughts about Facebook

Facebook the Internet sensation, the thing I do in the morning even before I brush my teeth.  The buzz is incredible.  I can't remember how many billion people are Facebook users -- but I talk today with people I have not seen since second grade as if we have been next door neighbors over those 40 some odd years.

Facebook goes public and the stock plunges. Is Facebook a one hit wonder?

The Internet's a funny place. Everybody is findable and reachable but most
content goes unknown, forever sitting deep in Google unclicked upon. And then
there are those pages that go monstrous instantly. That everyone pays attention
to.

I think this is a social phenomenon.

I think we need rallying points.

Once upon a time we got this with TV. We sat around that box and learned what we thought our world was about.  We planned our lives around what time our favorite shows were on.  Whether it be discussing last night's "Laugh In" routines or watching the finale of "Johnny Carson", the box was our culture.

But then, with 1,200 channels, movies took TV's place. That was one thing
we could count on, that you'd seen the hit movies. My wife and I are planning on going to see a movie today at Marcus Theaters.  I hope it's good.

But as Hollywood focused more and more on drivel that makes them money, many people lost the habit of going to the theater and movies were no longer guaranteed topis of discussion the next day at work. Now, you might have seen the film, but no one else did, or vice versa.

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Then came the Internet, with everything only a click away.  And Facebook which gave us a platform to utilize it socially.

We all love talking about Facebook. Millions played FarmVille and if not FarmVille, then Mafia Wars.  I've had Mafia Wars blocked now for four years and I'm still trying to purge my "friend list" of the people who connected with me through that game.

But to think a game would sustain itself and that those people are my "friends" is to believe Justin Bieber, or the last American Idol winner (who's name escapes me) are career artists and will last forever.

And because we've got so few common reference points, and it's so easy for us to
access these products, they take on an air of vital significance, that they're here to stay.

But we just needed something to talk about, to rally around. They're really no
different when we had our first rainbow popsicle.

You see there's very little big thinking. We used to rely on the mainstream
media to look out for us, to survey the landscape and distill an
even-handed reality -- and they took the responsibility of being seen that way fairly seriously.  But if they ever did that very well before, they certainly don't do it now. They are chasing instant profits. The media is too often populated by
reporters as opposed to experts. People asking the five w's, getting the story,
but missing the point. The facts oftentimes don't tell you what's going on,
they're just a very thin base line.

So the consumer ping-pongs from item to item and the media and money believe
everywhere people look is gonna rain down money. But this has been proven to
be untrue over and over again in the Internet sphere. People are grazers. And
they like going where everybody else is. For a moment. Then they usually move
on.

Will people eventually move on from Facebook? 

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