I suppose that I'm kind of an old fart, because Facebook reminds me powerfully of AOL. They are both walled gardens. While at one point AOL was powerful and r

I suppose that I'm kind of an old fart, because Facebook reminds me powerfully of AOL. They are both walled gardens. While at one point AOL was powerful and rich enough to purchase Time Warner. AOL still hangs on, a shell of what it once was. The main difference, is that AOL had a clear monetization strategy: it charged its users for access. And, it made craploads of money because it simplified computers and getting online for millions of people. Facebook does a similar thing. It allows people to do interesting things with their computers without having to worry about the dark and scary bits of the internet. Us older people remember the devastation that occured when AOL unlocked the gate it's walled garden to let people access the internet at large. It's know as the eternal September. Finally, when AOL's users got tech savvy enough to use the wild internet without AOL's hand holding, they left in droves. I suspect similar things are going to happen to Facebook users. I could be wrong.