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Comment by m_mueller | Hacker News Reader

I'm doubtful that FB should be on that pedestal. Social is all about the hip new thing du jour and I wonder whether FB can keep up with buying everything new in the long run since their revenue is still not great. Their shady tactics when trying to take over new areas like video show a certain amount of desperation IMO.

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Facebook is the most agile of the companies. Two years ago it was a desktop web company, now it is all mobile. With Instagram it arguably made the best tech acquisition of this tech generation - compare that to what Yahoo spent money on. So don't see Facebook as a social app, see them as a powerhouse capable of making big moves and being able to respond to trends better than any other player. Since it has a hard time accommodating new functionality under its Facebook brand, it's perfected the art of managing multiple consumer brands.

And let's not forget they own Oculus now. Facebook could be in a much different place in the next ten years depending on how that plays out.

It wasn't agility that kept them where they are, it was acquisitions. Facebook had to buy instagram and whatsapp because those to threatened its hegemony. Oculus on the other hand was a strategic bet on the future. When it's not agile enough, it has the cash to purchase those that are.

You could say this applies to all these "frightful 5"

It sounds like maybe you don't use Facebook. I don't either, but ONE FREAKING BILLION people do! To many people (non-tech-savvy, and/or in developing countries with less-developed infrastructure), Facebook is the internet. And they own WhatsApp (and Instagram, and presumably will continue to buy up any other social network that comes along and gains significant traction).

similar things were said about America Online in the 90s. where are they now?

Still profitably selling dial-up services to millions of people.

No, Verizon bought them last year....well, bought 2 million subscribers which is down from their peak in the 90's of 34 million.

If you had to cut the list, they'd clearly be first to go, but I still think they have a lock on a lot of people's attention that I don't see loosening any time soon.

Facebook has been around for 10 (or 12, depends how you look at it) years now. That counts for something (but what?). Not bad for the world's most complicated and featureless forum.

Instagram and Whatsapp are pretty compelling features these days.

There are hardly Facebook features. There aren't branded as such either. There are separate products.

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