Twitter has been justifiably snarky about the news that Facebook bought another short-term viral app for the users: “this smacks of engagement desperation”
Don't get me wrong, Isaac is right a lot, but he's also wrong a lot, and from what I can see: https://twitter.com/search?q=facebook%20acquires&src=typd the reception to this acquisition is mostly positive.
If MySpace had bought out Facebook during the early years and just let them keep doing their thing their fate might have been different. Yeah, people would have still moved to Facebook but MySpace (the company) would have still been the one to profit.
Yeah Facebook is going to have a ton of misses with this strategy, but if it helps their long term prospects it'll be worth it.