[nemothekid]

Is this a trait of "internet companies" or of advertising-backed media companies in the post internet world? They all seem to sell product and its not like the New York Times has anything inherently more "defensible" than Twitter does (Brand & Scale).

And I'm not sure Facebook or Google (with its current revenue makeup) is anything other than a media company, nor have they ever not been.

[themagician]

I don't think there's anything wrong with media companies. They are sustainable over a longer period of time, they just aren't particularly interesting.

I can easily see Facebook going the way of AOL. In a few years a new generation will grow up with something new that seems easier and more intuitive to them, and Facebook becomes a legacy platform. Maybe they buy a few small media companies that keep the newsfeed interesting.

I just can't see Facebook, Twitter or anything else being "the thing" on a sustainable basis. There's no precedent for that, and it really doesn't make sense to me intuitively.