I’ve been waiting 15 years for Facebook to die. I’m more hopeful than ever | Cory Doctorow

Facebook is struggling to retain users, fending off regulation, trying to pivot to VR, and paying a massive wage premium to attract the workers it needs to make any of this happen. The company is on the ropes

I've been praying for Facebook's collapse ever since it attained liftoff. In a 2007 article, I predicted that your creepy ex-co-workers will kill Facebook" by demanding to know why you won't friend" them, prompting an exodus to the next platform. That was the social network cycle back then: a new network opens, and you and the people you genuinely like enjoy a rollicking group chat until all the people you have to pretend to like show up.

That's the double-edged sword of products that rely on network effects" - the economists' term for a product that gets better when more people use it. Sure, you might join Facebook because your friends are all there (and more people might sign up because you're there), but that also means that every time your friends leave Facebook, it's a reason for you to leave, too.

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, including the forthcoming book Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly and fairness in the creative arts labor market. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame