Fore the most part, Goldman Sachs' recent $500 million investment in Facebook, a move that boosted the social networking entity to a value of $50 billion, has been seen as a positive development, a supreme vote of confidence in the staying power of an application that crosses generations, ethnicities, gender, etc. and appeals on a broad level as well as for those using it in a more niche capacity.
The financial buzz around the site has it already surpassing the 600 million user mark, according to Bloomberg, which reported the number from a super secret 100-page document being circulated amongst Goldman Sachs investors. Facebook stats crunchers Socialbakers also chimed in on the 600 million milestone, which has occurred six months after the company hit 500 million. The US of A led the way with 20.7 million users.
The Wall Street Journal also reported evidence that Facebook would be going public by April 2012.
But for every bullish perspective on Facebook, there are the apocalyptic naysayers that think this investment by Goldman Sachs will be as good as it gets for Facebook, and that this is the beginning of its end.
In the MSNBC-TV video above, "Media Theorist" and author Douglas Rushkoff compares this pivotal point in the company's history to the AOL/Time Warner merger and how after all the hype, this may very harken that the end is nigh for Mark Zuckerberg's vision, despite the interviewer's idea that he'd be "too genius to let Facebook die."
After all, Rushkoff says, it's just a "social networking application," a "social company" like a nightclub, so how could it really make a go of it as a company in the long run?
Do you, dear readers, think that Facebook is on the same trajectory as a Friendster or a MySpace?
