Even if Facebook itself isn't used as much, there will still be people using it, and unless it goes the way of Myspace and gets bought up by someone like Timberlake and redesigned, it'll still exist 20 years from now and further on, including all the data that's there. And, barring any mass social ideological revolution in which all of a sudden total and utter privacy is regarded over any other attribute, there'll always be something akin to Facebook. It's not the details, but the concept.
Agreed. And I'm just thinking out loud here, but I'm curious then if there will ever be one unified 'place' that we go to which is of such base level importance that we stop questioning it's cultural or even stylistic relevance and simply regard it as a given standard of humanity. I think the internet in general is already there for the most part, but I'm wondering if the web companies around today are non-cyclical i.e. defensive commodities that will become an essential part of our shared histories.It's not the details, but the concept.
I would guess that as the virtual aspects become more "real" and people can feel as if they are in the surroundings they inhabit online, the social aspect of the internet will change drastically. No longer will it be text based, but it will actually be verbal. "Faceboook" will be a bar, a stadium, a park or whatever you want it to be. You will interact with your "friends" as avatars. All of this will change in a very, very big way. Future generations will look back at the way we are "connected" now and wonder how we were so disconnected. edit: Eventually, it won't even be verbal. You will interact chemically. -What?