Facebook goes down
Posted on May 16, 2012 by
Paul WhiteFacebook is the website built for everyone, but in reality its a website for nobody. Facebook is responsible for one thing. Giving the world a place they can waste their time. Has anybody done the math on the productivity cost of facebook. How many hours each day do people waste on facebook. How much are those likes really worth? Are your sister's Cat Photos and Liberal Political commentary really that important to you? The answer is no.
Respect the Beginnings of Facebook
As much as I despise Facebook. I do like the fact that the founder was the person actually wrote the foundation coding for the website. There is nothing I hate more than suites thinking they can hire out innovation, and creativity. In this case you had a programmer who built the site he wanted to build, and was always focused on the experience for users rather than money. The long term results are now he is about to become one of the richest guys on the planet when the IPO launches.
Years ago when people talked about how Facebook was going to get huge, I saw lots of copy cat sites that seemed to think they could copy Facebook's layout and design and start their own social network. The problem is general audience sites are too hard to get off the ground. I told people that they needed to pick a Niche market that was not saturated and make a goal of growing it to a few thousand users, and not a few million.
After all, people want to mingle with others that share their hobbies and passions. People would rather be a member of multiple sites that are specific to a certain interest, than to join a generalized website that is vague. This is the root of facebook's problem. When people are on facebook they are wasting time, and are not in the mindset of purchasing something. When a person searches for Solar Panels on Google there is a high chance they are considering a purchase, and this allows google to feed relative ads. The same goes for niche based
websites.
Photography websites can feed
photography ads to users who are actually interested in
photography.
GM pulled their facebook ads because they didn't feel the return on investment was there. GM was right, and many other companies will soon realize the same.
Don't forget the fall of MySpace.
Myspace was bought for 560 Million, then just a few years later, the company was trying to find a buy in the 15 Million range. Facebook is trying to get 100 Billion Market Cap on the Launch. Yet they only have 2 Billion in revenue. The only way to increase revenue is to start charging to post. Facebook is testing this in New Zealand.
Negative response by commenters
If you read the comments by users on the various sites giving the IPO coverage, you will notice that most of them are negative. People treat others differently based on income. Lets say that over the next year one of my
websites takes off and I become a millionaire. I don't spend the money, I don't upgrade my car or house, I just quietly save it. I don't tell anyone about my money. People will treat me the same as before. After all there is no reason to assume I have anything more than them.
But what if I told people about the money. How would they react? Some people would be Jealous, and might not talk to me anymore, or they might talk about me behind my back. Some people would try to sue me to get at my money. Others would look for handouts. The Entitlement philosophy runs deep in American culture. Those at the bottom feel those at the top should be punished ( taxed ) for being successful.
The biggest driver of the Facebook hating is the fact that everyone who has wasted the last few years on the social networking website, are realizing that a small group of people are about to get really rich, simply because they use their website. Time is money. Facebook took your time, and converted it into billions which are about to be realized this Friday. What I sense is millions of people will ditch Facebook in spite of the founder's success. It was one thing when they thought the founders built the website for the users. But now that view will be gone forever. Even if the founders still keep the focus on the users, the money will ruin their image in the eyes of the users.
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