First things first … The original article was about “fixing” Facebook. In general, FB is in a tough position, in that their “value” is constrained by multiple market forces — and my conclusion after reading the article is simplistic, in that there is no way for FB to be “fixed”, or at least no way to fix it and remain the FB we know today.
What you’re referring to, is not necessarily FB — you are talking about services in general — and I agree, in the most simplistic model, there are two parties — the service consumer and the service provider. To create a long term relationship between those two parties, both need to provide value of equal measure to the other party. Services (in general) are about creating equilibrium — without that, over the long term, either the service consumer will find a new service provider, or the service provide will seek out a new service consumer.
We see this within technology all the time, and it can happen rapidly.
