Facebook Is The Ultimate "Minimum Viable Product"

Like many people, I've considered deleting my Facebook account. Not out of spite, or the desire to make a stand, but mainly because it's no longer useful. I've met all the people I'm going to meet on Facebook, and I struggle to see the value in remaining a member.

Whenever I seriously think about deleting my account, though, I can't go through with it.

It might be that I'm holding out for some of those long-lost friends to get in contact. I keep the Facebook beacon alight and fire the occasional flare into the internet, where I know the people who don't Twitter or Instagram will see me.

 

But that's not really it, and now I see what keeps me connected to Facebook when the value in the service has disappeared:

Facebook has all the people. They have all the money. They have all the brains. I'm just waiting for them to do something with it all.

Facebook is in possession of the most valuable triumvirate of requirements for a successful service. Given a huge audience, an infinite pile of money and the smartest hires, couldn't you create something more exciting, more valuable, than Facebook?

The truth of the matter is that Facebook are in possession of all three, and yet the result is a social network funded by advertising and virtual goods. They are, in a very real sense, the ultimate example of the minimum viable product. There is nothing there. Peek behind the curtain and the social network is held up only by its connections.

Perhaps, in the excitement of immense popularity, Facebook just couldn't find the time to create all the other features that came after minimum viability.

So that's why I haven't left yet, because this can't be the full extent of Facebook. A social network where all of the value exists purely in the numbers. I'm eagerly waiting for the moment when Facebook pivots and fleshes out the rest of the service. I can't bring myself to delete my account because I want to be there when Facebook finally does something with all those people, all that money, and all those hires.