With Facebook (supposedly) set to file for their IPO as early as next week; the question isn’t whether or not the firm has gained traction (it obviously has) as much as if / whether or not they’ll be able to sustain any post-IPO-offering momentum (look to LinkedIn as perhaps the best benchmark / example up until this point in time).
In other words, is this just the Bubble 2.0 and/or is Social Networking ‘really / truly’ the next big thing (as was Pets.com / Web Van and a host of others who went the way of the Dodo?) Building a sustainable business model via mining the data that end-users willingly post (perhaps not as willingly if any given prospecting / offer becomes too intrusive…) is a challenging prospect that’s still (as of yet) unproven…
(Source) WSJ: http://goo.gl/atTWL