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Comment by lbotos | Hacker News Reader

What if, that social network was built by 5 people, college aged, and they decided to use FB login to save some time developing because they are trying to see if this thing is worth building. A very real probability.

FB won't be the powerhouse that it is today, but it's deeply entrenched in our internet that there is value in the social data, not the "blue room" product they offer for free now. (I hate FB, but I get it.)

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Funny. I can't recall where but a few days ago I overheard a teenage say something like, "I wanted to make a Tinder account but I didn't have a FAcebook, so I had to go make that first."

Mind you, it seems like a really low quality user for FB and not something I would want to hang a bubbilicious valuation on for them -- unless FB's able to track her activity off FB as well. And I think this is the case.

Actually I wonder how Facebook's user tracking is actually dealing with mobile users who only use their mobile app. It seems like they'd potentially lose a lot of tracking info unless they can track an app login through the mobile browser.

I wonder if this is part of the reasoning for their increasing centralization by offering a browser and supposedly actually hosting highly shared content.

Do you think if all they provide is the service to store credentials they'd be worth what they are worth now?

I don't know much about Facebook's current offerings, but the answer to your question might depend on what other ubiquitous services they offer now or in the future. Maybe they'll become equally entrenched in the online payment market, or things of that nature. I don't and can't know if that will leave them at their 235B market cap, or if it will be lower or higher.

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