Face Book to exploit users once IPO is up and running..

Interesting post!!

Its on yahoo as well, so it will indeed create a few flutters!!

Interesting read, but I did was not really surprised by it. The more that I read, the more I was shaking my head going yeah ok this is the way these things go.

I'm interested to see how this will play out once people get inundated with ads. Will FB really launch pop-up ads, how do they plan to advertise to their users?

I'm still not buying shares.

They really have no respect for users' privacy.

Thank you for sharing. It was...uhm....an interesting read. My take on on the three points the author brought up:

"1. Facebook is going to "sell" users for $120 each"

On this point #1 the author is way off base. The conclusions he comes to are pretty asinine and makes me wonder if the ever studied how IPOs and the stock market work. FB users are not stock market owners of the company, they are registered users of the website.

"2. Facebook users are about to become billboards"

Ok, the author actually makes a decent point here. Once the company goes public it is going to be answerable to the shareholders and that may affect how the company is going to be run and might have an impact on it's registered users.

Well, I've heard that argument at leat 101 times before they went public, so on this point, it's possible, but only time will tell.


"3. The IPO is as much a Public Relations coup as a Share offering"

I found the mention of his dog, as an example used by the author, to be disingenuious and ridiculous. Clearly, the author does not like Facebook. As if this IPO is the only PR coup...c'mon. The author must think the readership is stupid.

"Like it or not your Facebook experience is about to change in a way that makes more money for the company. It's not a reason to avoid the shares, just a reason to be realistic about any idea of Facebook having a lofty mission."

And that's different than what's been going since FB starting making money off it's users? I mean....REALLY???

The article was somewhat entertaining to read, but it comes up with a lot of unproven conclusions. Well, the author didn't fool me one bit. I'm not the biggest FB or Mark Zuckerberg fan, but in my view, this article got 5% things right and 95% of their conclusions wrong. Also, the IPO was nearly inevitable once VCs and Angel investors got involved at the outset, so the author has me baffled in that regard.

Besides, most of what he's complaining about has already happened and is happening which made me LMAO, shooting my coffee and creamer through my nose. Always a good experience on a Friday morning.

Good times!

RoD