Social Networks Will Never be Obsolete

I keep hearing every single one of my buddies predicting and agreeing that social networks will soon be obsolete. My buddies aren't morons, these guys make and build these applications. They are the developers, marketers and designers so don't think they are just regular joes, they are net-experts. I even got kicked and banned by this Australian dude(m8) named Shai-Tan from #php because I tried to argue my case. I don't understand how a day will come when people all of a sudden stop keeping in touch over the internet unless the internet is no longer available. It makes no sense. If there is a medium for communication you better be sure people will be communicating and socializing over it. It's part of our human nature.

I wrote a previous article on "Social Networks" being a form of internet fashion and constantly evolving and changing. This would assume that social networking wouldn't be going anywhere for a long time. I didn't write that article thinking it would all of a sudden stop. It's like saying people will all of a sudden stop wearing hats. This leads me to the next debate that Shai-Tan and I were having...

Is FaceBook is just another MySpace and will it be gone soon? I am starting to change my thoughts on FaceBook. Considering the lack of clever domain names, the fact people don't want to keep using their real information on every site that pops up on the internet claiming to be a better and greater network and the way FaceBook is private and built strictly for the people you consider friends in the real world.... I would bet my money FaceBook soon becomes a standard for anyone who gets a computer with the internet. FaceBook is also not selling out business wise so you won't see Match.com and all the other ad-revenue methods on it to keep share holders happy.

You can quote me on this but I haven't said sh*t yet "FaceBook is like Remote Storage for Friends and People's Lives." This means that FaceBook has filled a necessity in life of giving people the security and comfort that they will never lose touch with distant friends and loved ones again." After all, people pay money for classmates.com and other methods of finding people online who they lost touch of. HEY SKEPTICS, WILL THAT EVER STOP TOO?

Now a ton of people are telling me MySpace and FaceBook are the same thing and this is proof that FaceBook will die out. For starters, MySpace didn't do geo-targeted searches. In fact MySpace's searching algorithm was horrible and I never once found anything I was looking for in 5 years. Second reason why FaceBook is nothing like MySpace is because everybody is equal in terms of design and layout. This shows that the point of FaceBook is not to look cool or to look sexy, it's to keep in touch and stay in touch. Another reason why FaceBook is better and will stick around much longer than MySpace is the developer network and API is very well documented. FaceBook will grow as the internet changes and will be always be right on point with evolution of technology. If you ever tried to make a custom layout with MySpace you will remember in order to make a change to the layout you had to stick code in a little text box, there still to this day is no HTML editor. MySpace became popular due to perfect timing, not quality.

If you would like to put your money where your mouth is, I am accepting bets. I will find a nice site online that will allow us to make a bet and escrow the money. We will make 2 bets:

1) The bet is 5 years from now social networking is still huge and still just as strong. The proof will be that there will still be a social network valued at or above 1 billion dollars 5 years from now.

2) The Highest Valued "Social Network" will be FaceBook 5 years from now for the United States UNLESS it gets hacked and everyone's information gets spread all over the internet and there is a giant panic. I can see this happening if FaceBook doesn't sell out.