Did Facebook Peak?

Likely in many ways. Not traffic for sure, not in consuming the blogosphere discussion. UPDATE – I did not have the right words, but Fred does as to why it’s not from Privacy backlash alone . If you think it’s just this you should check out our Wallstrip shows on Equifax and Fair Isaac. They have been shitting on your privacy for decades – it’s actually great business.

If it were a public stock, would it have recovered from the meltdown as fast as Baidu and Google?

Obviously the pressure of a $15 billion market cap is already freaking them out. That won’t stop.

I check in on Facebook maybe once a day. I use Google 100’s of times. I assume if I was in China, I would be doing the same with Baidu.
If I get an email alert from Facebook, I don’t rush over. Can’t my friends reach me at my e-mail address? I can’t even take the time to clean up all the crap streams and spam I am already getting…and this is from ‘my friends’.

Umair is talking today about ‘Fixing Facebook’:

Facebook guys: stop thinking about how to “monetize your users”. It’s insulting, pedantic, infantilizing – and you guys are way smarter than that.

Start thinking about how to turn yesterday’s inert consumers into living, breathing, prosumers – who can begin to reshape the DNA of the firms you’re connecting them with.

When you do that, you’ll be making things better – not trying to take over the world.

Sure…that will happen like me giving up bread and icees, a few hours and days at a time…MAYBE!

Based on the amount of VC money, Microsoft Money and Market Cap, it’s highly unlikely they can ‘Fix Facebook’ in the broken way that Umair is talking about.

I am most amazed that a big brand like Coke, Pepsi or Amex missed this acquisition. Left alone to just be a network without the pressures to monetize as a stand alone business, Facebook was surely IT. Coke would have sold billions of dollars of Coke and water to a whole new generation without ever selling any information about it’s consumers just by gifting Zuckerberg and the Company to the world.

Instead Facebook will continue to be pressured to monetize and continue to risk the franchise with ads that get no clicks and selling information about it’s users that the blogosphere will never let you do quietly.

Facebook is not dead or evil, just too bloated with valuation, VC’s and monetization pressure.

3 comments

  1. Richard A. says:

    Facebook peaked a year ago, when the main audience(college students) told Zuckerberg not to open up the network and Zukerberg didn’t care.

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