The Facebook Premise

Disclaimers: I do not have a Facebook account. No, this is not a critique of some Ludlumesque thriller. Rather when I got to thinking about what makes Mr. Zuck truly smart I realized two things - 1. He figured out how people (in the US and anywhere in the world) are vain and strive to associate themselves to a brand - any brand (from alumni plates decorating their cars to the beverages they buy or purses they carry to the gods they install in their automobiles) and put it out on display. 2. He created a technology to allow that to happen easily using a computer and then he hired some of the smartest marketeers in the business from other marquee brands in the valley to launch his enterprise and let them sell the coolaid to the world.. always hungry for more branded commodities. Facebook became that forum - a new way to announce to the world what makes you tick, scratch, itch, laugh or morose. By association your likes and dislikes also became a feature of the tool that apparently does not advertise but provides personal ambasssadors or references to the brands you have interacted with and lets readers glean what they might from it. So on the plus side the tool (as I have seen it being used by many an acquaintance) has benefits in that it can mobilize a large force against evil, injustice or calamity in short order. With its viral nature it can make public awareness easy as typing a few keys. It can help find long lost friends in case you really were looking for some long lost humans (may be some were lost for a reason?). Mr. Zuck in some of his interviews has claimed that the IPO will give him the monetary means to develop new functionality that will ultimately serve humanity in more exciting and innovative ways... that it will to a degree but marketing Coca Cola (when some wise guys are proposing Sugar as a Toxic scourge on the planet) is not exactly helping. It also is by FB's own admission a platform for other developers like Gaming companies to build new games on - i.e. new ways to game the audience. There is one school of thought that says Gaming is equal to gambling and therefore addictive. So this is another legal addiction at its best. (And yet these morally corrupt people will not legalize meth). It gets to the idea that righteous people have about saving the planet by burning less fuel but not thinking about sending more emails in the first place that needs more energy; or not drive that YUKON when a moped could do. Let us call it what it is (largest IPO or capitalism 101) and be glad for it. I love that notion and I am not necessarily about saving the planet. The planet knows more than our collective humanity can ever understand and will be here long after this moronic species has disappeared. I read the fact that Facebook will further its exploits in marketing to an unsuspecting public who will in turn continue to market themselves; their morning ablutions through their ultimate demise. We cannot pretend to take responsibility for all the stupid people in the world and so Mr. Zuck going to the bank as a rich man is testament to his ability to perceive human weakness and profit. In doing so he also obviously set up a chain reaction of instant millionaires who in turn are already fueling a buying frenzy of high end cars and homes to more of the so called branded beverages and accouterments that their 'like' minded peers have recommended. Talk about a fantasy fulfilled. All this - from a person familiar with the matter.