>> Seriously, what problem does Facebook solve? Does it even do a very good job solving this problem? Does it have any redeeming quality whatsoever?
Seriously? Reconnecting with old friends (and it solved this problem so much better than anything else in history that it's laughable). Keeping in touch with family across the world. On a very simple level, it's basically replaced a folder on my computer for storing pictures, and now they are available to me no matter where I am.
If you want to talk about making money, it's made demographic targeting widely available to those who couldn't afford a television ad, or wanted actual metrics.
Slap bracelets came nowhere near the level of adoption Facebook hit. Calling it a fad is looking at the facts and willfully ignoring them.