>portals

Ouch.

The 201xes are the new 1990's and Facebook is the new AOL

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/4/7488495/facebook-is-the-new-aol

Ouch indeed!

Some of the article's comparisons are striking.
But, Google has self-driving cars, robots and AI to fall back on if search business declines.  They seem to be future-proofing.

Great READ

TY

QuoteGoogle has been the new Microsoft for so long that this shouldn't surprise anyone

Actually, what continues to surprise me out in the "real" world is that most people still have positive feelings toward Google and still use abbreviations like M$ for Microsoft (albeit fairly rarely and mostly Apple/Linux fanboys). Though if we had an easy-to-use Unicode icon for the all-seeing eye of Sauron, I think Google would eventually be spelled G[all-seeing-eye-glyph][all-seeing-eye-glyph]gle

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/%E0%B2%A0_%E0%B2%A0-look-of-disapproval

QuoteFacebook, and it will stop growing the second all of their kids move on to something better.

http://th3core.com/talk/traffic/%27facebook-is-for-old-people%27-13-to-17-year-olds/

That said, there are a couple of advantages Facebook has
- 14B in short-term investments, 24B in assets, 2B in liabilities. Did AOL ever look that good?
https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:FB&fstype=ii

- AOL had to advertise non-stop to keep cash flow
- AOL was hit by a massive change in technology that was vastly superior at a lower price. Facebook wouldn't face something quite that crazy
- AOL model was based on people popping in a CD and not even knowing there was another internet. Once they switched to DSL and didn't pop in the CD to get connected, they realized there was a whole other internet
- Facebook seems to be pretty smart. More of a Google or Microsoft than an AOL.

I think the decline of FB will be slow and long, not short and fast like AOL, but of course there may be something on the horizon that I absolutely don't foresee. But I don't think the article makes a compelling case.

QuoteBuzzfeed is the new Yahoo

Oh please. I think this guy forgets how big Yahoo! was at its peak. If you wanted to find something worthwhile on the web, you went to Yahoo! I should write an article called "10 Reasons Buzzfeed is not the new Yahoo! The answer will amaze you" and try to publish it on Buzzfeed.

QuoteApple is the new Sony

This is the one that strikes me as closest to the truth. The big difference is that I don't remember anyone who every LOVED  Sony more than their firstborn. Apple, for reasons I've never understood, is the only tech company that has rabid fans despite having one of the most closed, proprietary, overpriced platforms in the world. I would say a more apt comparison is to a sports team. Rather than saying "Apple is the new Sony" I would say "Apple is the tech National Football League"
- rabid fans who will hold on through a long cycle of bad news
- but signs are looming that the love affair is on the rocks.