Facebook empire

Facebook's poor performance on Wall Street is described in terms of a "tension" between two money-making cultures (read "vultures") in America: Wall Street and Silicon Wall-ey:

They are as symbiotic as they are dismissive of each other. They are equally focused on making money, but their approaches are different.

But what impresses me most is the elevated tone in which a corporation's fluctuating fortunes in the marketplace is described. If one were not a little alert, one would think that the story of a whole empire is being narrated.

Take the image, for instance. Mark Zuckerberg's Grecian head has a distinct Caesarean aura about it. He is an emperor and the thumbs up and down icons begin to look like the rise and fall of an empire. 

There are hints galore that emperor Markus Zuckerbergus is an incompetent king and the fate of his kingdom atop Menlo Park is imperiled. A previous empire that had risen and collapsed in this region was that of Sun Microsystems--it was Facebook's predecessor in Menlo Park and ruled till the time Oracle came by and gobbled it up.

The fortunes of manufacturing companies are not narrated in such imperial tones--recall the stories of GM, Ford and Chrysler. They were told in sepia tones of foreboding--as though these troglodytes were bound to fail. 

I keep on forgetting that Facebook is not just a company--it's a TECHNOLOGY company and TECHNOLOGY companies are not regular companies, they are empires. They are not economic entities but culture-shapers and "world"-changers.