Mark Zuckerberg: Billionare

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I wish I'd thought of Facebook first. Even if it's not worth a billion, I'd still be richer than I am now.
 

ElJuski

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I can't hate a man for not knowing how to wear a tie, especially as he is quite possibly the biggest winner at life this century.
 
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SeraRelm

Your signature makes that statement epic, my friend. Epic. I offer you this one and only, first and last, fist bump rating.
 

Dave

Staff member
Zuckerberg is being sued by the shareholders. They say he withheld critical information before the IPO. This is gonna get ugly.
 

Dave

Staff member
Other than advertising, what revenue streams does Facebook even have? What marketability do they bring to the table? If they start charging app writers to host their stuff on Facebook, someone will go out & create something different.
 
Other than advertising, what revenue streams does Facebook even have? What marketability do they bring to the table? If they start charging app writers to host their stuff on Facebook, someone will go out & create something different.

TV and News Papers (until recently) have done quite well with advertising. More people look at Facebook on a daily basis than NBC.
 
FB's worth isn't its users, it's the data ON those users. Link data, surfing habits, location-age-sexuality-gender-schooling-muscial taste-hobbies.... FB's profile on you is more complete than even you realize. Even if you don't have a facebook account.
 
FB's worth isn't its users, it's the data ON those users. Link data, surfing habits, location-age-sexuality-gender-schooling-muscial taste-hobbies.... FB's profile on you is more complete than even you realize. Even if you don't have a facebook account.
The users leave, there is no data to mine. FB's worth is absolutely and incontrovertibly its users. Saying it's the data on those users is like saying a restaurant doesn't care about its customers, it cares about how they like their steak prepared.
 
There's also the "every page has a facebook "like" thingie on it, and each one of those is a tracker that isn't blocked by any anti-virus" (though some other software can stop it) bit.
Obviously it's the data-mining on the users, my point is that even if everybody left FB TODAY, they'd still have petabytes of marketable data. That alone is worth millions.
 
TV and News Papers (until recently) have done quite well with advertising. More people look at Facebook on a daily basis than NBC.
This. Before, if you wanted to advertise a product, you'd say "Alright, so we've figured out that women 25-39 are likely to buy this product. Some of them watch XXX show, so let's spend a crapton of money to try to advertise to them in these limited ways, and maybe some of them will see it. Unless, of course, they fast-forward DVR through the commercials. Or choose to watch this different show. Or mute the TV to talk to their husbands during the commercial breaks. Or..."

Now, they can say, "I'm going to advertise to women in this narrow age bracket, who have these specific interests, and they're going to see my shit EVERY DAY for potentially HOURS when they're viewing Facebook. And if I can somehow convince them to click the "Like" button on my page, I'll show up directly in their newsfeed between their sister announcing she's pregnant and their friend's drunk ranting about her boss."

You seriously can't even put a price tag on that.
 
There's also the "every page has a facebook "like" thingie on it, and each one of those is a tracker that isn't blocked by any anti-virus" (though some other software can stop it) bit.
Obviously it's the data-mining on the users, my point is that even if everybody left FB TODAY, they'd still have petabytes of marketable data. That alone is worth millions.
This. Before, if you wanted to advertise a product, you'd say "Alright, so we've figured out that women 25-39 are likely to buy this product. Some of them watch XXX show, so let's spend a crapton of money to try to advertise to them in these limited ways, and maybe some of them will see it. Unless, of course, they fast-forward DVR through the commercials. Or choose to watch this different show. Or mute the TV to talk to their husbands during the commercial breaks. Or..."

Now, they can say, "I'm going to advertise to women in this narrow age bracket, who have these specific interests, and they're going to see my shit EVERY DAY for potentially HOURS when they're viewing Facebook. And if I can somehow convince them to click the "Like" button on my page, I'll show up directly in their newsfeed between their sister announcing she's pregnant and their friend's drunk ranting about her boss."

You seriously can't even put a price tag on that.
By "content," GM refers to the other $30 million that GM spent on Facebook last year maintaining its branded page on the social networking site. The brand page might be effective for GM, but none of that money goes directly to Facebook.
Having read Facebook's financial statements, they make 85% of their revenue in advertising, 12% on Zynga related virtual sales.
So yes, I can put a price tag on that, and it's just as flimsy as Myspace was.
As for 'making money data mining', it's absolutely no different than playing ads for tampons during the noon-hour soap operas. It's turning clicks into dollars that makes people money, and lo-and-behold, it's just as successful.​
 
So yes, I can put a price tag on that, and it's just as flimsy as Myspace was.
Much like Facebook in its early days, Myspace was never meant for anyone outside of a very limited demographic -- my mom (or dad, or grandmother, or other age 45+, semi-computer literate relatives) would never, in a thousand years, have signed up for it. At its peak, MySpace didn't even 40 million users; Facebook is approaching one billion. HUGE difference there in terms of potential as a marketing/data collection tool.

Facebook is going to have to continue to innovate to remain viable long-term, but like I said in my previous post, with the rapid changes in traditional media the days of advertisers stabbing in the dark hoping to hit their target are going the way of the dinosaur; why, long-term, would you spend money to target women who watch soap operas at noon -- hoping that they are actually watching the commercials (DVR FTW), are pre-menopausal, etc. etc. -- when you could use that same money to buy a spot on their Facebook page, where they'll see it every time they log on to play Words with Friends? And more, if you can convince them to "Like" your business, you have the power to show up on their newsfeed -- to insert yourself directly into their lives.

I've been chatting with one of my friends on Facebook for the better part of an hour. Every time I alt-tab over, I see an advertisement for Chili's and State Farm. I probably won't watch a second of TV (aside from HBO) until Fall, and I usually mute them when they come on anyway, but because of Facebook these two companies' logos have gotten more time with me today than they otherwise would have for probably the entire rest of the year.

You seriously don't see the enormous value of that sort of targeted marketing?
 
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SeraRelm

Is she the only one who sees ads?

I use Noscript for a reason though. :D
 
Did you actually buy anything or do you plan on buying anything from State Farm?
Right now, I'm happy with Geico, so no. However, if I'm constantly exposed to the State Farm name and logo, and if/when I decide to switch insurance providers, it might be the first place I look -- if for no other reason than it'll be the first thing that comes to mind.

Chili's, though? "I'm tired and don't feel like cooking, where should I go for dinner?" is a fairly common situation for me. "Like us to receive a free appetizer!" is a strategy that can work well to entice a broke, 20-something grad student.
 
That's just the brands you know. I can't tell you how many times a facebook ad has shown me an online store I didn't know existed and then became a regular buyer from it.
 
That's just the brands you know. I can't tell you how many times a facebook ad has shown me an online store I didn't know existed and then became a regular buyer from it.
Especially if one of my friends has given it the thumbs-up. The endorsements of acquaintances hold at least some level of value to most people.
 
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