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I just ran across this really interesting article on the Motley Fool about how Google, Facebook and Apple are just crushing all hopes for any competitors, and the negative effects this may have. It’s true, though. Google is the only search engine I use and it’s my only email host. No social website even comes close to Facebook in the amount of people (over 400 million) or time spent on the site, which is great for advertisers. Plus Facebook has the creepy super-targeted ads that are far superior to run of the mill print ads (for the advertisers). And of course Apple is way ahead of everybody else in the technological and cool-factor, so no one can get anywhere close to their broad-reaching  range of products. Plus people are more than willing to pay a premium price for their premium products.

The article, which caught my eye because of the title “Apple, Google, and Facebook Are Killing America”, goes on to explain some of the implications of these monopoly-like media giants. There’s always an uproar about how huge oil companies and multi-national corporations are ruining the lives of Americans, but when it’s Facebook and the maker of the iPod, nobody cares. And why would they? Nobody wants the Microsoft Zune to sell as heavily as the iPod or iPhone because the Zune sucks in comparison. So what’s the big deal ? These companies are changing the way we do things, and in turn are changing the way America runs. Are they killing the idea of traditional media and causing journalists to lose jobs? Well, maybe.

“Newspapers can blame Craigslist for killing their classifieds and Google for disrupting their circulations, but the inability for many print companies to thrive online is even more telling about the inadequacies of the fading print model. Still, you’re a meanie, Google, to be taking down the newspaper and magazine industries like that.”

I love the way Rick Aristotle Munarriz writes in this article, so you should read it after you finish here. I think he makes some really good points and lays things out in a pretty simple way. I don’t like the idea of any businesses having a strangle hold on the market, but these companies seem to come across as innocent, do-good companies that are just making the world a better place. Apple can still pull that off in my opinion- I’ve always believed in their mission and their products – but Facebook creeps me out and Google has been into some pretty shady stuff recently.

This article is geared toward investors, but it also says a lot about the current state of the media industry and how things are seriously changing. Most people don’t even bother to think about these things, but these enormous, global, profit-out-the-ears tech companies are changing our way of life. Deal with it, bitch about it, ignore it or whatever… but think about what you do and where you put your money. If these three companies get any more popular they will kill all the weakling competitors and we may just be doomed as a society. Think about it, America.