4 ms·

I think MS will acquire FB. The FB social network will die, in time, but it's still the world's largest email address list, plus all sorts of personal informat

I think MS will acquire FB. The FB social network will die, in time, but it's still the world's largest email address list, plus all sorts of personal information that can be used to insidiously coax consumers. Every FB user should gather up all the email addys of their friends and keep them in a safe place offline. This way you never lose contact. FB allowed people to submit their email addresses to a central website and thereby connect/reconnect with friends, colleagues and so forth. This sharing of email addresses is not a new thing, but with FB it occurred on an unprecendented scale. Billions of email addresses (that work!). That is FB's contribution. Gather those email addresses and keep them offline. Soon you may be able to form your own social networks that are private, secure and more functional than FB. But you will need the email addresses of your friends to get it started. Don't believe that FB should be the safe keeper of your email address book. They will do what they have to in order to survive as their business winds down. Those email addresses are its most valuable asset.

smokinjoe 14y ago
I'm not making the MS connection - are you saying that Facebook will be eventually required solely for its email addresses?
- _suoiruc 14y ago
  No connection. Two separate points: 1. A prediction that FB will be acquired 2. A suggestion about the importance of email addresses, both for you, the FB user, and for FB. Hypothetical: You need to contact one or more of your FB friends. The only contact info you have for them is what they submitted to FB. But you never copied their email address from FB to your computer, phone, etc. FB "implodes". Or maybe you just want to switch to another social network and you want to let your friends know about it, but for some reason you cannot do it via FB. Email is how things gets boostrapped. This is why there was a battle using dirty tactics between Google/Gmail and Facebook early on over snarfing people's email address books. Your email address is valuable. Valuable to you. And to FB. And to any company that might acquire FB. My suggestion is make sure you have your own copy (e.g. saved on a USB stick, SD card, HDD, or even printed out on a sheet of paper) that is not controlled by some web startup. My guess would be a lot of FB users don't. If FB implodes, they could lose contact with certain people.
- smokinjoe 14y ago
  While it's too late to edit, the typo is driving me insane: required => acquired.

smokinjoe 14y ago

I'm not making the MS connection - are you saying that Facebook will be eventually required solely for its email addresses?

_suoiruc 14y ago
No connection. Two separate points: 1. A prediction that FB will be acquired 2. A suggestion about the importance of email addresses, both for you, the FB user, and for FB. Hypothetical: You need to contact one or more of your FB friends. The only contact info you have for them is what they submitted to FB. But you never copied their email address from FB to your computer, phone, etc. FB "implodes". Or maybe you just want to switch to another social network and you want to let your friends know about it, but for some reason you cannot do it via FB. Email is how things gets boostrapped. This is why there was a battle using dirty tactics between Google/Gmail and Facebook early on over snarfing people's email address books. Your email address is valuable. Valuable to you. And to FB. And to any company that might acquire FB. My suggestion is make sure you have your own copy (e.g. saved on a USB stick, SD card, HDD, or even printed out on a sheet of paper) that is not controlled by some web startup. My guess would be a lot of FB users don't. If FB implodes, they could lose contact with certain people.
smokinjoe 14y ago
While it's too late to edit, the typo is driving me insane: required => acquired.