In the Réussir supplement of L’Express of October 18, 2007
Are you Myspace or Facebook?
Groucho Marx said:I would never want to be part of a club that would accept me as a member.” Today, he would have to: in the United States, you are either a member of a network or you are not. And in France, the virus is spreading.
If you don’t know Facebook – Trombinoscope in French – you won’t be long in coming. 41 million people already tell their stories about their lives on this student and executive site. One morning, you will receive an email telling you that William (or Étienne, or Guillaume) has “added as a friend in Facebook”. And asking you, in English, where you met and if you have any mutual friends. Perhaps you will remember knowing this William in a sandbox. Unless he occupies the next office. With one click, you will enter their social network. And what a network! Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, predicts that it will become the largest in the world. Moreover, Bill Gates plans to buy it even though it is not yet for sale: it is already worth 10 billion dollars! It’s the magic of anticipation: Facebook will one day develop enormous revenue thanks to targeted advertising based on the personal profiles of its members.
The number is dizzying. Will the site be able to count on its millions of followers in the long term? Internet users are fickle. And they like privacy. Staying on Facebook if you have 5,000 or 10,000 friends, what’s the point? Especially since they are “American-style” friends, not really those of Montaigne and La Boétie… And then, even if it dethrones the famous Myspace site, more popular – which had already eclipsed its competitor -, the new “must” will one day be overtaken by another start-up which is currently sharpening its offers in a student room in California. Suffice to say that if you are not yet on Facebook, don’t panic. Take the time to choose. Or not. After all, your neighborhood neighbors can feed the cat or help you out with a bar of chocolate.