Commentary
Can Boston Hatch Another Facebook?
- by Val Brickates Kennedy , February 5, 2014
It's hard to imagine life without Facebook. Think of how much richer your life is now that you're 'friended' with your great-aunt, your ten-year-old niece, your dogwalker and the guy who sat two rows back from you in driver's ed. And think of how much more informed you are. Without Facebook, how would you know that your sorority sister just made a yummy vegan lasagna or your ex-boss just got bumped off his flight at LAX?
Yes, Facebook can be silly. But it also has proven to be a serious communication tool for individuals and businesses alike. And despite rumors of its impending demise, Facebook will undoubtedly continue to be a powerhouse for at least a few years to come.
Facebook is also the American Entrepreneurial Dream personified. Like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Mark Zuckerberg was a really smart kid with a cool idea. That he had to eventually take his cool idea to Silicon Valley to make it commercially viable has always been a bit embarrassing for Boston. After all, Route 128 is America's Technology Highway! Or at least it was in the '70s and '80s, when Digital Computer and Wang reigned supreme.
But the times, they are again a-changin'. Zuckerberg has said that if he started Facebook a few years later, he thinks he would have been able to stay in Boston.
Investors seem to agree with him. The Boston Globe recently reported that Massachusetts VC firms are once again buzzing, raising $5.4 billion in 2013, or about one-third of all VC funding for the year.
That's good news for the thousands of entrepreneurs in the region. The Boston Business Journal recently reported that there are 17 fledgling social networks in the Boston area, and that's on top of the dozens of up-and-coming digital media-related companies that have been hatched in recent years.
So Happy Birthday, Facebook, from your Boston relations. And with a little bit of luck, you won't be an only child.
