The social service has irritated adherents with changes on privacy procedures, but analysts say Facebook, like the QWERTY keyboard, has achieved what they call 'technological lock-in.' ...
"I think Facebook is the most valuable Internet commodity in existence, more so than Google, because they are positioning themselves to be our online identity via Facebook connect," Ravasio said. "It's your real name, it's your real friends, and assuming they manage to navigate the privacy quagmire, they're poised to become your universal login.
"I would almost argue that Facebook is the new mobile phone. It's the new thing you need to keep in touch, almost a requirement of modern social life."
Technological lock-in is the idea that the more a society adopts a technology, the more unlikely users are to switch. Its the reason why the QWERTY keyboard, devised in the 1870s, is still the standard despite the development of several more logical configurations.
Read full story
Comments