> Facebook is just transitioning to becoming the digital equivalent of an oil company.
Seems more analogous to a tobacco company. Some people think it's bad and they use it anyway.
Seems more analogous to a tobacco company. Some people think it's bad and they use it anyway.
They have an addictive product in common. But oil seems more apt.
The sale of tobacco is highly regulated. Oil, less so; Facebook, not at all.
Oil became useful in the Industrial Revolution, and enabled downstream innovation. Facebook came about amidst the modern Internet and is likewise a platform. Tobacco is old and the end of the line; the ancillary market is limited.
Finally, both oil and Facebook are tools (for some). Tobacco could be thought of as a tool, but it‘a more universally hedonistic.