As Google+ debuted with much fanfare and as it was revealed that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg pretty much endorsed his competition by both admitting that he had a Googled+ profile and commending the service, I realized that social networking is quite a unique field in which to operate.
Like with the MTV series The Real World where season is likely to bring a new cast and story line, Social Networking's wagons seem not very amenable to longtime commitments. Those who had hitched their wagons to MySpace can easily understand where I am coming from.
I don't think Facebook is going anywhere anytime soon, but I think there is a real possibility that it might be at least partially eclipsed by the big G.
Social networking has a lot in common with cellphones except that, not being physical and not requiring two year contracts (or money for that matter), the players fortunes are a lot less secure that one might presume.
I say this not for Zuckerberg's sake as I am sure his financial advisor's are taking care of that end, but I want to warn developers who might find their Facebook allegiance unfruitful should their target demographic decide to move on.
As I have always warned my colleagues, those who refuse to design and plan independently of platform will find their work becoming irrelevant soon enough —Foxpro developers know this all too well.
A clearly designed game or application can be conceivable ported if its features follow a platform-agnostic design. There is a difference between maximizing the strengths of a port's platform and designing around it.
It also goes without saying, that we should choose our platforms like we chose our tools: the right one for the right circumstance. It doesn't hurt to ask the hypothetical question how could we go about moving our cash cow if we needed to?
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