[jfmercer]

It is amusing how this title Facebook "the Devourer" reminds one of some dark Hindu deity, such as Kala [Time] the Devourer:

"At the dissolution of things, it is Kāla [Time] Who will devour all" (Mahanirvana-tantra, cited in David Kinsley, Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas, p. 122.)

Better known is Krishna's theophanic revelation to Arjuna on the sacred plain of Kurukṣetra: "Behold, I am become death, the destroyer of worlds," which is also translated, "I am terrible time [Kalo, from "Kala"] the destroyer of all beings in all worlds" (Bhagavad-Gita, 11:32). Oppenheimer reportedly quoted this very line immediately after first nuclear detonation in history at Trinity Site, New Mexico in 1945.

Surely Facebook is too trivial to merit such cosmic appellations and apocalyptic titles as "the Devourer." Such language is best left to poets, seers, prophets, and mystics. In the context of discussing the technology industry, it is wildly hyperbolic.