The world of social media has been firmly with us since Friendster in 2002. Yes I know full well there were others before that, but none with the commercial success of Friendster, anyway is this a passing phase that is will disappear in the blink of an eye or is social media here to stay?

Looking at the figures for the big hitters of Facebook and Twitter it is hard to imagine a world without them. One of the favourite statistics that people use is that if Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest country in the world. This is despite the fact that it is banned in China, although we have all seen it many times and may have become desensitised to it, just sit and think about that for a minute. Can you imagine 500 million users just deciding that they don’t fancy using it any more? I know I cant.

I think far more likely is the idea that networks will come and go, fashions change and platforms stagnate but I do think that Facebook and Twitter are here to stay for the foreseeable future. There are now a plethora of smaller social networks, Instagram, Flickr, Foursquare, the list goes on and on. These are the networks that could see themselves in serious trouble in the coming years, mainly if the big hitters are going to start encroaching on their territory which is bound to happen more and more.

I think the bubble for social media is the valuations of the companies rather than the usage. It is an interesting concept that Facebook could be worth a massive $50 billion. This is surely a completely unimaginable amount of money to pay for a platform that it would take in excess of 100 years to recoup at the current rate. Of course I understand that the site is not even running at half speed in terms of monetisation but still $50 billion is a lot to pay for something with no tangible assets.

Facebook do a great job of hyping up the valuation by refusing to float the company. This makes Facebook the most valuable privately owned company in the world, that is quite an accolade and one they will be sure to play on as they continue to get private investment from the likes of Goldman Sachs.

Social media is firmly embedded into the lives of so many people that it would be naive to write social media off as a fad. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.