Social Networking For Dollars

Do you do face time with Facebook?

The stolen source code and idea may be nearing an IPO. Reportedly the company is nearing a settlement with the actual originators (brains behind the what is now Facebook). Law suits generally get settled prior to an IPO or other major event as not to depress the value of the new security.

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and a colleague, Divya Narendra accuse Mark Zuckerberg of stealing the source code, design, and business plan for Facebook in 2003. Meanwhile in October of 2007, Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook. The company is valued at $15 billion, making supposed thief Mark Zuckerberg the youngest billionaire in the United States if not the world.

I think that these social networking web sites have a long way to go before they can be something which can be useful and not just time wasting. Perhaps I don't have the same enthusiasm for Facebook as my former colleagues who waste time each week on the site which could be much more productive if it had a way of linking applications which complemented their work in some meaningful way.

People constantly have the excuse of not having enough time to do this or that. Sometimes I view that as a cop-out but in many cases it is actually valid. So if we are to use the web in our daily lives, then at least lets not waste our time needlessly on sites such as Facebook. Google lost out to Microsoft some say, but I think that Google could easily wipe it's nose with the Facebook site and premiere something truly useful. Something that would be social but provide truly useful and productive web apps at the same time.

I added these vids on 4-17-08 because of their relevance to this article.