It seems people have been waiting for Facebook to fail for a while now. Not sure where the anger comes from, but since the social network giant has continued to grow and gain traction, the naysayers have had to remain fairly quiet...until now.Let's face it, the IPO hasn't gone smoothly. Finally, some negative news! General Motors doesn't want to advertise with them anymore? Hooray, pile it on! eMarkerter has a survey saying Facebook ads don't influence purchase? Bring it. The LA Times said teens would rather Tweet? Perfect. Teens are the barometer of what's cool after all.
Facebook may not be around forever, but here's the thing. I've long ditched my address book, I'm horrible at remembering people's birthdays, and I actually enjoy keeping up with the lives of people I would otherwise never stay in touch with. (I'm talking about the randoms from high school, the ex co-workers and estranged family members). Facebook still holds all my social connections. I know that if at any moment I had to reach out to someone I could and they'd eventually get the message.
Remember, you don't have to check Facebook every day to use Facebook. Just like you wouldn't study your address book every day. It keeps your social network in tact for when and if you need to access it. That said, a lot of people still do check it every day out of habit.
You don't have to love Facebook, you don't have to even like it. But you do have to admit it is useful for staying in touch with a large amount of people at one time. Until there is another network that provides a similar service, in a better way, I don't see Facebook going away tomorrow. Even if they've received a bit of bad PR.