| Let's look at this in simple terms. Let's look for evidence of a "business model". Website becomes popular. Website gets personal details from users: email, maybe photos, address, etc., plus it gets a list of "friends" for each user. Website shows display ads. (Website gives birth to games company. Games company goes public then loses half its value in two months.) Does website have a "business model"? Wait, we're not done. Website monitors everything users do on the website as well as, to the extent they can, the other websites users visit, using web beacons scattered across the web (Like buttons, aka "Facebook Connect"). Website shows display ads. Do we have a business model yet? But wait, there's more. Website goes public and raises a heap of easy cash. Website acquires a web browser, produces a mobile phone and begins monitoring everything users do on the web and every conversation they have with their friends. Website shows display ads. Do we have a business model yet? Or is this just lots and lots of spying, information collection and dreaming that this is somehow useful for business? Display ads are not a business model that will grow a business, unless the business is itself a display ad company. (And Google already acquired those guys years ago.) |