Like almost everyone else who works in this space as of late, I was talking about Facebook a few days ago. After demystifying their valuation a bit (it seems likely that the $15 Billion being bandied about doesn’t represent a real market valuation more than a strategic move by Microsoft) and taking a look at whether their ad network could scale in the way that Adsense has, the biggest question that we were left with was, “is Facebook evolutionary or revolutionary?”

The Social Gap

The sticking point was whether Facebook could ever really tap into middle America, and deliver a message that the masses could understand in the same way that platforms like AOL were understood. This video raises the point again, using a new social network for people 50 and up (Sagazone) as the case study. The part of it that stuck with me was this quotation, “They [Facebook/Myspace] are for young people, they aren’t for the older generation. We talk different languages, we behave in different ways, we have a different set of values…”

Considering this gentleman is using Sagazone, it doesn’t seem like he is particularly Luddite and regardless, the point he makes feels correct. Facebook has a culture that doesn’t easily resonate with the broad range of demographics that other huge platform services have been able to. The solution might be as simple as spinning off another version of the software for “Middle America” (or “Middle UK” in this case) but it might be more intrinsic than that.

Web 2.0 Roundup

At this moment, my bet will always be that Facebook is not the end of the story. While it is a strong platform with a great deal of potential to be a huge success. The real revolution in social networking will come from whoever is able to bridge the gaps between the early adopters and the mainstream. Someone, somewhere is probably designing this product as we speak — maybe it is Facebook itself.

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