Here's a formula for success:

    1 - Figure out what tech the hardcore technorati snubs.  
    2 - Note the subset of this which has mainstream traction.
    3 - Implement something with value (while the techie snobs
        look on in disdain)
    4 - Succeed

Who has used this strategy? YouTube. (Which is why I couldn't say "Profit.")

Util you can say profit, your definition of success is going to be somewhat shaky.

I would still like to have had the success of YouTube. And I bet if you look hard enough, you'll find some niche where someone has followed those steps, but with #4 - Profit!

Who are those hardcore technorati and where do they bash Youtube?

I was one. Everyone who could've been YouTube, were it not for the fact that they disdained Flash Video and were looking at a "more elegant technology."

Let's not forget when Second Life was going to be the future of the Internet.

The difference is that my grandparents aren't on Second Life.

My utility bill comes with a Facebook URL on it. I don't think it's a Madison Ave fad.

What sort of benefit could you get by "friending" your utility company? How bizarre. Maybe they want to deliver policy changes or energy saving tips more easily? That's the sort of thing I don't mind reading through snail-mail. (Email is too ephemeral, and FB... well, that's mostly noise).

Companies that put up facebook pages are just doing it because its easy and there is no cost associated with it. Nobody is depending on it and nobody will care much about it when the next big platform comes along.

reminds me of aol keywords

It's a fad, nonetheless -- just a (currently) popular platform to be associated with.

Totally!.. I just don't get it, even my bank statement envelope, utility bills has three logos at the back

Youtube, Twitter and facebook.

These agencies they hire are just selling stuff to the corporations.

True, but I think this is a real trend.

I know plenty of people who never go online for anything other than email and Facebook. And Facebook is trying, at least, to take the email part for themselves.

I even know quite a few "techies" who never bothered to use RSS, but use Facebook as something like an RSS feed (by "liking" someone's page, you get the updated to your wall).

I used Facebook like this for a while, then I remembered that all my likes are public and that they use them to advertise.

I have to say, I like company Facebook pages because it's much harder to make an awful Flash-heavy mystery-meat-navigation autoplay-music unselectable-text mess of a site within Facebook.

That's also the reason I quit Myspace.

Calling this a fad isn't helpful. There's a reason why this is happening and if it's a fad, so be it, but it's one we all should understand and act upon.

What is the justification for believing this? What should we understand? I don't think anyone can really understand fads, its like why is one song so catchy and others not, quantifying that is very difficult. Why should facebook win out currently over the other social networks is an interesting study point,m but I fail to see why we should study facebook if that was your point.

well said, plus I'm sure facebook is involved in encouraging this trend