Faceplant

I have an incurable disease ... old-fogeyism.  As a result I have no business blogging about Facebook.  I don't understand its popularity.  And I don't understand its intricate mechanics ... nor do I care to learn.  Somehow I have gotten registered as one of its billion or so users and keep getting those annoying messages that there are things pending for me there.  Yawn ...  It is just one more cyber-technology I would prefer not letting into my life.  Ditto Twitter.  Texting has me perplexed.  Why would one take the time to type a message to someone when one's voice message is oodles more efficient?  And I keep hearing ominous things about how Facebook is using or is going to use all the dumb things (I must be careful here ... my daughter is a big user) that its users post on its tens of thousands of racked computers to invade their privacy bubbles.  No thanks.

Now, this stupid company is going public this spring with a stock offering which will probably value it close to $100 billion.  That's billion ... not million (see ENews Account) ... enough money to rescue Greece from its financial predicament. And that 27-year old puke, Mark Zuckerberg, will become a multi-multi-billionaire (sidebar: I haven't seen the movie, Social Networking, either, nor will I).  Is this rational?  Not to me ... but it clearly is to the millions of Facebook aficionados who will be clamoring to buy this initial public offering (IPO) which might value Facebook at something like twenty-five times its trailing annual revenues (see: IPO Details).  This clearly is insane ... but then so was Google's IPO that came out at $85 per share and is now selling for $580 per share (= a market valuation of $188 billion).  So Facebook should get this hyperbolic initial market valuation which will likely then be even more insanely eclipsed by its soaring stock price during its first day of trading.

Caution to all of you who want to take part in this Wall-Street mania ... yes, you might make a pot of money if you buy this stock early-on.  But caveat emptor ... at some point this bubble will burst and Facebook will take a faceplant ... it might take days or months or even years.  But, be assured, it will happen ... mainly because Facebook's product is so ephemeral.  (It might take somewhat longer, but the same fate should also eventually happen to Google.)

Gotta go ... I have to take my Studebaker in for an oil change.