

Dear Facebook, It Could Really Be This Simple - ezdebater
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/02/zucks-karmas-bitch/

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salman89
While I don't feel Facebook is doomed, this article really lacks meaningful
content.

"And, if it can leverage the physical goods loophole on iOS, it can become the
social shopping platform.

So buh bye lame “Social stories” and buh bye Amazon (which currently has a
$100b market cap, around twice that of Facebook)."

Really, Facebook's save is social shopping... and that would upend Amazon?

~~~
mtgx
Sounds like a pie in the sky theory, like the one that floated around a few
years ago that Facebook only needs to introduce search, and it could kill
Google.

~~~
majani
Time's clearly up for selling investors on the future of Facebook. Investors
want to see results now on these tech companies.

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Freestyler_3
What is the last thing facebook implemented that 10% or more of the users are
now using?

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mariusz331
I wouldn't advise this guy putting money into facebook just yet. A stock's
price is supposed to reflect all information pertaining to a company
(including a lock-up expiration). However, as with Groupon and LinkedIn, the
price before their lock-ups expired didn't correctly reflect the value of the
stock with all the 'unlocked' shares flooding the market.

I speculate that facebook's price will continue to go down post lock-up.
Insiders aren't ignoring the poor news or outlook and I think they'll sell for
more reasons than those. That's not necessarily because these insiders don't
trust their company. They may have to pay off expensive things (maybe a nice
home?) they bought when the company IPO'd and can't risk the uncertainty of
facebook's future value. Also, if you ask any investor, they'll tell you that
diversifying your portfolio is important.

Another interesting thing to think about are tax implications. I know a lot of
facebook insiders were happy that their IPO was pre-July because otherwise,
the lock-up would have crossed into 2013. This is when taxes on capital gains
are expected to rise and it can cost them a lot of money.

I'm curious to see the performance of the stock in the coming months.
Especially with the uncertainty of growth, possible tax increases, and the
implications of the lock-up expiry, this will be an interesting journey for
facebook.

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redwood
It does feel like FB could rake in enormous amounts of cash quickly if it
really wanted to, but then doing so would kill its long-term viability.
Trouble is it's current approach seems death by a thousand pokes. I suppose
the execs who've already cashed out already had their payday. Sorry the saps
who bought...

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jgroome
Not quite sure what they're suggesting. A wishlist system, whereby I have a
bunch of products in which I've expressed an interest? Some kind of digital
gifting system where people pay money to buy virtual "presents"?

In the case of the former, we already have Amazon wishlists, or I suppose
someone could go through my Pinterest and see what I like. In the case of the
latter, if anyone actually bought me a digital gift then they'd probably get
unfriended.

If Facebook can come up with a wishlist system to rival Amazon's then people
will absolutely flock to it.

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bitdiddle
What the "I don't trust Zuck" means to conservative investors (senior
programmers, parents, and other fossils) is that management counts, in fact to
old fogies like Buffett it's a major league concern.

The same thing that holds true of a YC company is true of large corporations.
To channel Lombardi, "management isn't everything, it's the only thing"

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paul9290
Recently there was a shower curtain with the design of a Facebook
profile/users wall.

It was being widely shared throughout FB. Why isn't Facebook attaching an
affiliate link under these types of photos to where I can buy the product or
service?

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majani
There are other apps that have been built on the Facebook platform for that.
Facebook has to stay out of their way in order to remain a true platform.

~~~
paul9290
Are they built into users' news feeds?

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brador
It gets interesting when the giants start competing.

Facebook moves into real goods, to compete, Amazon then needs to start a
social network.

If Google starts gaining market share on Google Plus, Facebook will step into
the search space.

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ahi
She want's to give monetization advice, but doesn't even know how to buy
stock?

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parbo
Wrapp does this, but with gift certificates. Multiple friends can chip in to
the same gift certificate. <https://www.wrapp.com/>

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se85
I'm glad I stopped reading Techcrunch.

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maked00
farcebook seems intent on pulling a "Digg" crash and burn. Same kind of
swamped in hubris jerk pulling the strings. Notice the Zuck, cashed out quite
a bit recently. What does he know that we don't? Maybe that the site is a fad
and the bubble is bursting in slomo.

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xSwag
Except, this time, there is no Reddit to fall back to.

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mser
Why is this nonsense being voted up?

