Facebook started in small social groups (Universities) and grew from there. I'm sure that if someone comes up with a better social network, it will quickly be adapted. Snapchat shows that you can become extremely popular with a simple idea that people like.
But Facebook is at the moment really good at capturing what users want. So they have this monopoly for a reason. But I'm very sure that at some point people will leave Facebook for something else, just because that's how it has always been. The question is just how long it takes until that happens.
> But I'm very sure that at some point people will leave Facebook for something else, just because that's how it has always been. The question is just how long it takes until that happens.
Though I'd wish for this to be true, I'm not sure it'd happen anytime soon. Gmail, though not a social platform by itself, stands as an example of an entrenched email provider on the consumer side because of its features (and originally a promise of larger and increasing storage quota). Similarly, Facebook is not sitting on its monthly average users and will keep improving, acquiring and absorbing things from other platforms to keep its stronghold. Sure, it will face challenges (like Snapchat), but it will not be dethroned soon.
I don't think many people saw the decline of Yahoo or MySpace coming.
Companies can very quickly become unpopular. They will exist for another decade or so before being bought for a cheap price. I'm very certain it will happen to Google and Facebook just because so few companies dominate a market for more than 20 years or so, especially if there are no large start up costs.
However, that doesn't mean one company will take over what Google or Facebook do. It could as well be companies doing something else, but taking away the main revenue streams.
But Facebook is at the moment really good at capturing what users want. So they have this monopoly for a reason. But I'm very sure that at some point people will leave Facebook for something else, just because that's how it has always been. The question is just how long it takes until that happens.