The Ponzi Facebook economy
bubblegeneration.com
bubblegeneration.com
I'm going to try and synthesize a strategy for facebook from Marc Andreessen's post on platforms from yesterday, the follow-on discussion on AVC, and this post from Bubblegen...
1. Getting "open": for the near/medium term, facebook needs to become a "level 3" platform, where complementary services are able to themselves capture value. (I suspect that the facebook people see this already, but, then again, they might be "evil" ;-)
2. In the long run, the Net itself is the "platform"; I don't know what the service they might provide in that world (5+ years?), but I suspect it's nothing like the facebook of today. Maybe something that manages the portability of your personal info/history?
Any thoughts?
In their stead, firms which leverage the wealth of information/value outside the firm (i.e. GOOG) will create huge value.
GOOG leverages information outside the firm...and that info stays outside the firm (at least as far as search is concerned). This is generally referred to as "edge competency."
IN CONTRAST, facebook sucks information in from the outside world, and keeps it inside the firm.
Ergo, it is "evil."
He is right, in that this is not a sustainable strategy.
Why does Facebook have to subsidize other apps? If the platform is as good and full of opportunities as they say it is, no one would need the extra carrot on the stick.