Will Facebook ever die? Just because you wish something doesn't mean its going to happen.

Will everyone be sentenced to eternally witness people posting minute to minute updates about their child's low grade fever or someone asking seriously and repeatedly whether anyone is going to see Don Rickles in Atlantic City even though everyone the poster knows lives in South Carolina and Don Rickles has probably been dead for years (these are true to my life).

Will Facebook go away or will people who joined at age 13 still be on it at age forty and doomed to have terrible digital legacies that are never erased.  And can we look forward to watching a future TV program called "I can't believe I posted that on Facebook" or "Germany's Most Disturbing Facebook Posts".

Facebook has had a relatively long shelf-life as far as internet companies go.  Friendster is definitely dead but Myspace had 61 million visitors in November 2011 which is comparable to the numbers for Google+ (which I already consider a ghost town).  But one researcher feels that unless Facebook becomes as ubiquitous as email it is destined to go away.  But who knows what the next 20 years will bring, but probably not too many more Don Rickles concerts.
Read more in Charlie Jane Anders' article in IO9