Facebook’s success can be traced to its ingenious evolution into a public instant gratification machine that appeals to humanity’s most basic and primal pleasure triggers, accessible to all, for free, from nearly any and all platforms. Need a little attention? Post a status update. It doesn’t matter what it says. After someone posts a status update, just underneath it immediately appear the words “Be the first of your friends to Like this.” It can’t get any easier than that. Like a 25 cent bubble gum machine, it’s all about making people feel good, no matter how great or small their actions. Frankly I see nothing wrong with it, haters be damned.
It may have started out as a deceitful theft by an unpopular nerd with no scruples, few friends and a chip on his shoulder. But like anything that serves the public good more than it harms it, the machine has become bigger, and more valuable, than it’s dubious origin. By now those who were ripped off in the beginning have been duly compensated and if the company plays its cards right it can have a long future. For many years I have predicted that Facebook will soon replace the “desktops” on our personal computers, Macs, laptops and yes even our smart phones. It is only a matter of time. Some argue that Google might beat Facebook to this distinction, but I doubt it. Facebook has attached itself to the human psyche. So far nothing on earth has attracted the customer base that Facebook has in the history of human commerce. There’s a good chance that nothing ever will again.
