On last Friday, another one bit the dust. As Snap’s shares plunged following unsatisfactory results, it became obvious that the saga that a lively young challenger to Facebook could fall over the social media giant from its roost was just that – a fable.
Without any doubt, the company at the back of Snapchat is still a very inspiring young business, creating an audience of 173 million mostly young on daily basis users in just five years and altering the way they communicate, in fun and creative ways.
But its position and prospect as a self-regulating company look doubtful, with talk of it being consumed by Google or another web giant.
The endless pockets of Facebook, which purchased Instagram and WhatsApp, and has relentlessly copied any challenge it couldn’t buy, meaning that Snap was at all times going to effort to convey the idea of fast growth it outlined when advertising its shares prior this year.
And that just put in to the mounting sense that the days of inventive damage in the technology industry may be over, and that we are looking at the world where the big winners of the past times – Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple, or “Gafa” as this four-headed swine is sometimes described – will be ruling unconcealed.
In its youthful life, Facebook has continuously been seen as under threat – and certainly, it has promoted that view every time there has been the matter of limiting its power.
Just as it had left MySpace, Bebo and Friends Reunited in the dust, the fairy-tale went; it too could shortly be heading for obsolescence as inconsistent users turned to the new and new thing.
But the fact is the social media wrestle is over and Facebook won it.
A few smaller players such as Twitter and LinkedIn and, yes, Snapchat will have considerable audiences but fight back to create much money.
But, excluding of China, the company that is now worth nearly $500bn (£385bn) will keep ongoing to be the largest force in the way we communicate for the predictable prospect.
The other members of the Gafa quadrumvirate also look protected in their supremacy.
Google succeeded the war for search on the desktop long ago and has now become evenly dominant on the mobile internet.
Amazon is the undeniable champ of online retailing and logistics and has constructed a lead in cloud computing.
And even as Apple has a comparatively little share of the global smartphone market, it has bolted up most of the industry’s proceeds for the previous seven years.
