An auditor visiting Earth from another planet might be
gobsmacked at what our society considers to have economic value.
Indeed, the nearly $100 billion envisioned IPO of Facebook could
capture the attention of an inquisitive stranger from a distant
galaxy, causing him to wonder not only about capital formation, but
about social values. With that valuation, the upstart social media
enterprise would suddenly be about equal to Abbott Laboratories or
Citigroup in value, with only 26 of the Fortune 500 having greater
market capitalization.
The need to communicate is as old as homo sapiens.
Since the Stone Age, our species has needed to reach out and touch
others. Hirsute, carnivorous prehistoric Man may have felt
loneliness in his own way, hoping to relate socially in caves and
at campfires. Much later and over the centuries, inventions such as
the printing press, telegraph, and telephone permitted more
widespread social interaction. And now, at the outset of the 21st
century, the art of communication is made even easier.
The expected valuation of Facebook shows how powerful is the
human desire to liaise and interface. Once the hype quiets down, it
may be worthwhile to ponder why a huge array of software, servers,
and electrons traveling at the speed of light could be worth so
much, while other American companies in basic industries are
imperiled by competition and loss of market share. Why is it that
smart, young geeks can suddenly become so rich, while those smart,
tried and true folks who work hard and retire to bed early struggle
for economic stability and fulfillment?
A principal value proposition of Facebook is to allow the shy to
assert themselves. A socially awkward person can blossom into a
digital socialite, with a few clicks of a mouse. Where else can a
minnow look like a whale, a solitary extremist look like the
Chinese Army, and a clumsy person look like a tango instructor?
Indeed, phalanxes of the social hermits of yesterday now sit
mightily in their comfortable high tech enclaves, the bland, light
gray cubicles that Dilbert championed. Some even manage to eat
several meals a day there. Facebook is their triumph and
confirmation that intellectual capital is worth as much or more
than time honored physical capital formed the old-fashioned way —
with distribution having enormous potential for advertising
revenue. And so one generation trumps another.
Facebook is indeed the affirmation of the erstwhile
undemonstrative, and their numbers could be in the billions. The
market is of course not just in the United States, as there are
many timid people in Brazil, Russia, India, and China, known as the
BRIC countries, where there are massive youthful populations
yearning to copy, connect, and join the mainstream of
globalization.
The ascent of Facebook should also be seen in a broader context:
a new technology-focused generation values the ability to liaise
and conduct self-display more than privacy. Part of this culture is
the obligatory panoply of digital kit, designed to amuse and
release the human spirit.
Packing iPods and Velcroed iPhones, they glide effortlessly from
Facebook page to Facebook page. When not downloading the latest new
apps, they may listen to music and text simultaneously on a
handheld, even while crossing against the light — all the while
thinking it new found productivity called “multitasking.” With
fingers pounding in a furious atavistic dance, they immerse
themselves in a digital frenzy, limited only by telecommunications
capacity and their number of thumbs. And ease of access to
cyberspace allows the conflating of data with information with
knowledge with wisdom. Add some hypercaffeination with macadamia
lattes and extra foam, and you have a heady brew of technology and
consumerism.
Finally, another value proposition of Facebook is to promote
democracy, as it makes it more difficult for governments to assert
control and repress their populations. One dissident with a popular
message going viral can create a tidal wave against an established
order. The 20th century was unkind to despots, and the 21st is no
different, as we see from the Arab Spring. But there is also a dark
side: snooping governments can find out who peoples’ friends are,
and recruiters can search Facebook to see who has outlandish
behavior in the public domain.
The potential of Facebook is as vast as the universe itself,
about which we thus far know relatively little. In the event that
there is life elsewhere — in the Milky Way Galaxy and possibly in
billions of other galaxies — Facebook has massive export
prospects. The only trouble is that instead of instant
gratification, it will take many light years to reach out and
touch.
