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Comment by jpablo | Hacker News Reader

I'll bet facebook has more impact than Apple. Apple makes your iPod, that let's me listen to music. Facebook creates your social life (for a lot of people it does).

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Even if that were true, I give money to Apple and I don't give any money to facebook. Apple extracts thousands of dollars directly from my wallet, while facebook just sells my wandering eyeballs.

This thought occured to me the other day as I wondered in the Apple store to just look and walked out with my wallet $1500 lighter. In less than 45 minutes Apple extracted more money from me than Facebook ever did during the five years I used that site. Despite eyeballs, large numbers of users, and other assorted impressive metrics, there's still something to be said for functional (physical) products that solve problems and a solid product line.

I disagree. For me, the only way Facebook helps me socially is as a sort of phone book and with events. Catching up over Facebook seems a useless event compared to conversing IRL. Besides, an inordinate amount of people use it as a game system with a leaderboard. Facebook's value isn't really social at all. It's pseudosocial.

It's the same to me, catching up over FB is crap. But there are a lot of RL social stuff that if FB wasn't there a lot of people would be missing.

You don't personally use it to socialize so you say they don't provide value for the tens of millions who do and apparently get enjoyment from it. ... OK.

Facebook will get you laid.

Having an iPod.... nope.

An iphone might have done it about 2 years ago.

> Facebook will get you laid.

How does Facebook accomplish that? I'd rather count sitting behind your computer as a counterproductive.

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