Patch Poll: Do You Think Facebook Will Disappear?

Nearly one billion people have personal profiles on Facebook.

A billion. One billion.

Think about that for a second. There are 6.8 billion people calling Earth home right now, and about one of every seven of us use Facebook.

Earth is big and has a lot of people. From those living in the South American rain-forests, to the Aboriginal people of Australia, to you and I ... and one of every seven of us have a Facebook account.

Astonishing? Think of it like this: hunger and starvation is a serious problem on a global scale, right? We talk about it as a society all the time.

According to WorldHunger.org, worldwide, around one billion people are hungry right now. That's the same number of people that have Facebook accounts—one in seven.

Now that I have everyone bummed out, I make the point to illustrate just how huge—just how invasive Facebook has become.

With Facebook's recent Initial Public Offering, where folks could become investors in it, analysts have begun debating the profitability and mortality of the social-media and friend-making company.

According to the Huffington Post, one such investment analyst says the company will "disappear within eight years."

Eric Jackson, founder of the investment firm Ironfire Capital, says no matter what happens, Facebook will always be a "big, fat website," and no matter how hard it tries, it wont bridge the gap to the next big thing.

He predicts that Facebook will go the way of other tech companies that come and go when the next big thing inevitably arrives.

Marty Wexel, 42, disagreed when asked him what he thought of the idea Facebook would disappear.

"It's not going anywhere. I mean, it's so massive and wildly popular and has been for years," Wexel, an Apple Valley resident said while sipping a coffee at the  near Cedar Avenue and 175th Street West.

Cathy Hart, 31, who was also at Caribou, said she thinks Facebook will stick around because people think they need it.

"It's not like CNN.com or something," Hart, a Lakeville resident said. "People are attached to it because it's become a place where they keep photos and mementos. Facebook is too popular with individuals to go anywhere. Heck, I'm there, too. There are photos my friends have taken of my son that I wouldn't see or have if it wasn't for Facebook."

What do you think? Is Facebook here to stay, or will it fizzle out like MySpace and other tech companies—Web Crawler, etc.—have.

Tell us!