OK, random thought experiment. As someone without a facebook it's hard for me to evaluate, but how much damage would really be caused if facebook just disappeared one day?
For me, the most effective directory of contractors is through Facebook. I hate it, because Facebook does a bad job of building and presenting that directory, but it's the largest and most relevant one.
(This might have improved since my last road trip, late 2019. YMMV)
It would be catastrophic.
Not at all.
> Companies that depend on Facebook advertising would disappear.
Good.
> People would be locked out of OAuth accounts on thousands of websites.
OK? If you were federating your auth via Facebook it was only a matter of time until you were locked out for one arbitrary reason or another. This just seems like an acceleration of a good thing.
> It would be catastrophic.
From your perspective, I can see that. But there are other perspectives out that that are not completely beholden to Facebook.
Some people rely on their relationships with other people. They build support systems, form groups, and take comfort in the company of others. Being cut off suddenly and with no means to reconnect would isolate many people. This would be extremely damaging from a mental health perspective alone.
In addition, so many people have reconnected with old friends, family, teachers. One friend of mine used Facebook to find her birth parents. That avenue disappears completely.
I don't know why you would say it's "good" for these companies to disappear. These aren't megacorps. It's small, local companies that rely on FB advertising. Bed and breakfasts, wineries, anything that depends on tourism. They're always hit the hardest. Walmart isn't going to care if they can't advertise on FB anymore.
Your comment shows a lack-of-understanding and compassion for your fellow human.
When you don't have Facebook your friends and family just txt or email. I mean Facebook book hasn't even been around that long. To pretend it is something like water or electricity is just preposterous.
Data point: In 2009, the admin assistant in my department at university told me she's been getting quite a few upset incoming freshmen because of the requirement to have an email address for university classes - many of them had never used email before, and had communicated only via text, and IM apps. This was over 10 years ago.
Also, I'm surprised the university wasn't assigning them .edu emails anyway. My younger brother is in college now and he loves the school email for getting student discounts.
I'm not saying all those who complained did not have email - likely many/most did. They didn't like being required to use it. However, there were quite a few who claimed they had never used email. I suspect that they likely had, but only for a few formal things (university applications, etc) - something they used perhaps once every few months. They probably didn't like the idea they'd have to check their emails so frequently.
There is also a huge difference between people making the decision to stop using social networking, and being suddenly and unexpectedly cut off from a support network. The former can have positive effects on mental health, the latter will certainly not.
I say this as somebody who deleted their Facebook account over a decade ago.
Yea! How did people communicate or companies advertise before Facebook!? They couldn’t.
I mean, maybe some old fashioned things no one remembers, but we’d be talking all the way back to 2004 here.
The question is not "Could Facebook be replaced?". The question is "What happens were it to disappear one day". They're different questions with very different answers.
2. S&P 500 will go down 2.5% the very instant FB disappears. Further consequences for financial markets are hard to predict.
Would anything actually improve?