thilly thenny

It’s been a while since I’ve written about marketing, social media, and the tech realm I operate in on a daily basis.  Here’s a quick article I grabbed from BBC News Online with comments:

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Microsoft has invested $240m (£117m) in social networking site Facebook in exchange for a 1.6% share of the company. That puts a value of $15bn (£7.3bn) on a firm that has only been in existence three and a half years. So why does Microsoft think Facebook is worth $15bn? Here are 15 possible reasons…. 1. The network has gone viral in the last 12 months, with more than 50 million users worldwide and a user base that is growing faster than great rival MySpace. According to Facebook, it adds 200,000 new users each day.

True.  What you fail to mention is how many of those 200,000 have opened accounts to sell and spam others.  Facebook ads have dropped in quality, since they opened membership to the public, and I keep getting “sponsored” “shit” in my inbox…

2. The average user spends 3.5 hours a month on Facebook - more than the average user on rival MySpace - which is increasingly attractive to advertisers.

I love how BBC spews this cute little facts and then completely disregards the fact that some fanatics (like me… well sort of) spent about 30 minutes on it a day, which is about 15 hours a month.  If you now anything about statistical analysis, you’d know that the mean doesn’t give you quite as much information and you’d hope.  I mean what happened to the median?  Standard deviations?  Okay, one standard deviation?  Please?What I’m trying to say is how “targeted” are the advertisements?  Are the junk accounts on Facebook going to diminish the value of the network like they did on MySpace?

3. Facebook is the current Web 2.0 darling - popular with ordinary users and “tech heads” alike.

Yes, yes.  How cute!  All hail the mighty Zuckerberg!  MySpace was popular too; doesn’t mean people won’t get sick of Facebook or Web 2.0 in general.  Learn from the bubble people!  Stop putting all your eggs in one basket.  If you’re a marketer, you should try Web 2.0 and social marketing or “Marketing 2.0” if you will, but remember Porter’s analysis of the Internet.  It’s an additional venue, not the new venue.  So don’t get all your pants in a bundle.  

4. US research reveals that Facebook users come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college than MySpace users - increasing that attraction for advertisers.

Given that Facebook as of right now started with colleges before trickling down to teens and yes, the working professional and “older” people… you’d basically be guaranteed that the average Facebook user is more educated than MySpace, which was always open to all.  The question:  will that be true once Facebook reaches saturation?  More importantly, people have stopped jumping from one new network to the other.  They’re basically settling with their favorites, so why so many new networks?  Who’s really joining them?  Will they make money if their SMN is so niche that advertisers won’t be bothered?

5. Microsoft’s investment makes them a serious player in the growing market of “social advertising”. Social network profiles are full of personal data that users voluntarily hand over, which is very useful for targeting adverts.

I’m sure Microsoft’s involvement helps with the press, but it’s not entirely necessary, is it?  I mean Facebook’s been growing at a healthy rate for a while.  Other SMN have tipped without the help of a goliath.

6. Sixty percent of Facebook users are outside of the US - so Microsoft’s investment buys access to a global audience quickly and simply.

Yes, but what about the fact that most countries have their own SMN or choice?  Bebo for UK?  Xuqa for Turkey…or was it somewhere else?  How does Facebook stack up against them in each country?  Give up specific messaging per geography for a global brand?  I don’t think any “global” brand actually does that.

7. Facebook is the new web: The decision to open up the network to outside developers turned Facebook into a destination for many uses, like messaging, photos and video. Of course, as Facebook is on the web it could never really be the new web.

Read the first part of the first sentence.  Then, read the second part of the second sentence. … You’ve run out of reasons, haven’t you, BBC?

8. Every major content firm with an online presence is either working on a Facebook application or has already launched one - from Google to the BBC.

Yup, it’s like the iPhone of the web.  Lots of competitors, but everyone wants this one, and no, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

9. According to a report, 233 million hours of work are lost each month in the UK due to staff looking at social networks. Advertisers can now target people when at their desks.  

See reason #7.

10. The openness of Facebook is attracting a wealth of talented developers who can launch their applications to millions of users quickly.

The last time I checked there were well over 2000 applications, and most have about 20 (?) users?  It’s like Facebook groups: too niche focused; most don’t give value to the user; especially those that are too sales focused.  (Yes, I’m overly cynical just to give the opposite opinion.)  See Peanut Labs for a good example of execution.

11. Facebook messaging is the new e-mail. Everyone feels stressed from a deluge of e-mail from unwanted people and companies. But Facebook messages are always from friends.

Are you kidding?  I do sooo get junk mail.  Yes, not as much as my email, but Facebook doesn’t have a spam filter yet.  And if you just cited that people go on Facebook an average of 3.5 hours a month, what’s the point of messaging via Facebook?

12. Facebook’s “status updates” have become the easiest way to let friends know what you are doing and how you are feeling at any given moment.

Again, see reason #7.  Also, Twitter.  Duh!

13. Facebook thrives on playful applications such as Pirates, Zombies, Super Wall and Top Friends, which have made the network a place to play as well as communicate.

I agree that Super Wall is pretty super cool, but Zombies, Pirates, and Top Friends?  I thought the chain letter days of the Web 1.0 had passed and died?  Please pass and die!

14. Facebook is the acceptable face of blogging - you can reflect your life and personality online without being seen as a “blogger”, which often carries a geeky stigma.

Rephrase please. “Facebook is a great venue to link all your e-personalities together to form a coherent and transparent profile for your personal and professional life.  Whether it’s updating blogs, Twitters, iTunes songs, or YouTube videos, Facebook has successfully integrated your daily SMN into a Web 3.0 application that actually works.  No more trudging through 8 websites during your daily-e-routine.  Facebook is your one stop shop.”

15. Facebook is worth $15bn only because Microsoft says so. The value of Facebook is based on a 1.6% share of the firm being worth the $240m Microsoft paid for it. Microsoft and Google were in a bidding war for a slice of the firm and both companies have large pockets. This was not just business, this was personal, according to some analysts.

I think ego is a better word in this situation.  And after 14 reasons of why Facebook is so great, did you just admit that it’s all fluff?  People! .BTW, happy 10’s birthday, BBC News Online.  That would be you started the website in 1997.  Not exactly the early adopter, are we? *wink*.

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In other news… did your mother not love you as a child?  Courtesy of uncrate (which usually has pretty good taste).