Facebook lasting a hundred years? WHAT?! I hardly see Facebook as being in the same league as technology companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon. In fact, I don't really see Facebook as much of a technology company at all, at least in comparison to those I mentioned.
I wonder if the author would have said the same thing about Myspace 5 years ago. I bet he would have.
Hardware (Apple, Amazon)
OS (Apple, Google)
Cloud services (Google, Amazon, Apple)
Web services like email, maps, search (Google)
Facebook has a very large user base. Whoopee. But does that mean staying power? Nope. Just ask Myspace, Yahoo, and countless dot bomb companies. You need to invest in R&D, become a technology provider, and succeed in more than one market. Beyond social networking, what does Facebook have?
This is a horrible article, especially by the Economist's standards.
I wonder if the author would have said the same thing about Myspace 5 years ago. I bet he would have.