Facebook Mocks 'Infection' Study, Predicts Princeton's Demise

Okian Warrior writes "In a followup to the earlier story about Princeton researchers predicting the end of Facebook by 2017, Facebook has struck back with a post using similar statistical techniques to predict that Princeton itself may be facing irreversible decline. By using similar methods ('likes', mentions in scholarly papers, Google searches) Facebook has created graphs that indicate Princeton is losing ground compared with its rivals and may have no students at all by 2021."

Re:What will replace Facebook?

[ericloewe]

I'm not sure it's passed the fad stage.

That is probably true for the traditional social network audience (kids), however, Facebook has a very large user base that arrived more recently and has a greater tendency towards inertia.

As I've said before, I have no doubt Facebook will somehow disappear. I'm just not sure how.

Myspace-esque replacement with something else?
A new overarching medium to replace social networks?
Some scandal that will drive users (and/or advertisers directly) away, making it less interesting for advertisers?
Will it morph into something completely different, keeping essentially just the name?
Will the process drag on for years?
What will happen to everything that ties into Facebook today? We're talking about phones whose OSes integrate some Facebook stuff, appliances that integrate with facebook, websites that use facebook for authentication...

Or, of course, Facebook might live forever, but that is not what I'd bet on.

I'm not going to group Facebook with companies like IBM or General Electric. The former is absolutely dependant on the whims of millions of people. The latter two only have to sell (and support in exchange for big bucks) expensive items to businesses, instead of relying on advertising.

Re:At least Princeton...

[kilgortrout]

The big three Ivies, Harvard, Princeton and Yale, have unbelievably huge endowments. Harvard leads with $40 billion, and Yale and Princeton have about $20 billion endowments each. As a result, they can afford to offer very generous need based financial aid. In fact, the only financial aid available from the Ivies is need based. If the family makes under about $75K, the student gets a free ride; that's tuition, books and room & board. The financial aid awards go down on a graduated scale based on income and don't cut out until family income is in the $250K range. They appear to intentionally peg it so for a middle to upper middle class family the financial aid award is large enough to make going to the Ivy slightly more affordable than going to an in state public university.