Can Facebook Survive Going Public?

Yesterday, Friday 18th May 2012, Facebook (FB) went public on the stock market. The company had an evaluation of 100 billion going in and has since garnered much criticism for that number. Needless to say, Facebook's stock is worth more than that of Google and McDonalds, but despite all of the hype and fanfare, FB's stock has only risen by 0.23% a mere 0.61% change as of this write up.

This brings us to the matter at hand: Do you think Facebook will survive the next five years? or will it fizzle out like Myspace and Friendster?

I think only time will tell. I was actually expecting the social networking giant to command the DOW (it kinda is) but it's gains have fallen way short of expectation. There are reports that Mark Zukerberg's defiant and intrepid behavior is to blame for the lack of trading in the stock, evident by his lack of commitment to "dress up" for the occasion. But that's fodder.

The true question is, how will this affect us, the users of Facebook? The company has long been under fire with regard to privacy issues and, sad to say, that will not stop anytime soon. What does FB going public mean to the users? Well, for one thing, it means more ads; and more ads means a higher risk of spam and infringements on your private information.