[nonbirithm]

> Facebook wouldn’t have these problems if they weren’t obsessed with acquiring as many users as possible.

Is there any venture capitalist that would generally believe "there is value in not trying to connect everyone on Earth together?"

It feels like when you market your hot startup idea, connecting the world or enacting change is merely a cool new thing that carries no long-term downside. Find a market, connect with a target audience, grow. Maybe that's how Facebook started (or not).

I feel that, because of human nature, if it weren't Facebook then some other company would have inevitably taken its place. Being able to connect to someone faster and easier than ever sounds like a tangible gain for average people. The idea, with no strings attached, was too tempting to pass up for someone that truly wants to change the world and be a hero of some kind. It worked for a single university, after all. It's the sense of starting a technology company when the future is completely unknown and the potential for change is exciting. I'm not sure there was anyone that would have understood the consequences of taking such an idea to its logical conclusion, and now Facebook has become irreversibly baked into human culture.

The more people that want to connect, the more moderation staff is needed to match. Unfortunately, the desire to connect with others is wired into pretty much everyone on Earth at the deepest level (with exceptions, of course), and so your potential market is... pretty much everyone on Earth.