I think what’s particularly interesting (and damning) about their latest grievance is that they broke their fundamental covenant with users “We are a place for your private information and communications.” This boils down to a poorly executed TOTAL shift from their original function and promise.

You’re also right about the quality replacement, and if I had some time and coding knowledge, I’d be following in the footsteps of (or pledge to work with) the guys on the Diaspora project.

I see this as such a similar phenomenon as what happened with Microsoft through the 80′s and 90′s. Everybody loved to hate them, including entire nations, but no one could do anything about it. Now, we have more options, which is good for everyone, and yet, Microsoft remains a powerhouse in business and personal computing.

It will indeed be very interesting to see where facebook is this time 5 years from now, but one thing is for sure – they are going to need to expand the user interface to allow people to develop more compelling content within the network or it will remain nothing more than another status update tool that has very limited value, relative to what it could have been.

While its not completely inevitable at this moment, they pushed entirely too far this time around and the negative publicity machine continues to escalate. If it continues at this rate, the movie this Sepetember will be the icing on the cake. If you haven’t read “The Accidental Billionaire” yet, I highly encourage it. Its a damning book (and the movie will follow suit from everything I’ve read).