After reading an article in the New York Times which discussed the recent layoffs at MySpace.com I began to wonder how some of the other social media sites are feeling about their place within the social mediasphere.  For example Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook turned down more than a billion dollar offer to sell Facebook and more recently Twitter turned down a $500 million offer from Facebook. 

Not so long ago MySpace was the go to social portal with an ever increasing user base and the accompanying soaring valuations.  How quickly this has changed - with the announcement of a 30% workforce cut and a user base which is shrinking and less engaged, MySpace seems to be making the slow march towards obsolescence.  We have seen this before with other once hot Internet companies, AOL being a prime example – will MySpace serve as a warning to companies like Facebook and Twitter?  Twitter already has some questionable user statistics which show that many of its users are not engaged or even tweeting after their initial visit.

Are sites like Facebook and Twitter unrealistic or short sited to think that their social medium will not be overtaken by the next, new thing?  The fact that they have still not been able to figure out how to monetize the medium must make the decision not to sell that much more difficult.

I am not saying that I do not believe in Social Media as a medium – it is definitely a big part of the future of the web and valuable for business and users alike – or even making the point that Zuckerburg should have sold Facebook, but more asking the question of how long is the life of a social media portal?  At which point does the popularity offset the niche, cool factor that initially attracted its users?  Facebook and Twitter seem to think that growth is never ending and that they cannot be replaced by a newer, better application.  Recent history of the Internet tells us this is not the case.