Posted on 10/07/2007 3:56:34 AM PDT by shrinkermd
When I first met Mark Zuckerberg, he seemed as much a visitor to his surroundings as I was. It in Facebook's boardroom in Palo Alto, and Zuckerberg hadn't spend a lot of time there. He wondered aloud to his media aide why we were meeting in such a big and off-putting formal space. His comments caught me off-guard. I expected a guy who has become as rich and famous as Zuckerberg to more fully embrace it. And then I thought, "Of course he feels awkward about his surroundings. He's only 23 years old."
It's been like that from the beginning for Zuckerberg. Ever since he started Facebook out of his Harvard dorm room four years ago, he has been scrambling to keep up with epic growth in his and the company's fame and fortune. The last year has been particularly remarkable. Users have quadrupled while employees and revenues have tripled. Zuckerberg was mocked briefly in 2006 for turning down a near $1-billion buyout from Yahoo. Now, there is talk that Google and Microsoft both want to buy a chunk of or all of Facebook for a valuation north of $10 billion...
...Another round of Silicon Valley hype, you say? Perhaps. It does defy a certain logic that a 23-year-old might be worth -- based on his 30% stake in Facebook -- $3 billion. But the facts are these: Facebook is the hottest social networking company on the planet right now. And two very smart companies -- Google and Microsoft -- along with most of Silicon Valley believe that Facebook, or its kind of technology, is going to completely change the way you use the Internet in five years. Is that worth $5 billion? $10 billion? $15 billion? I don't know, but I know it's worth a lot.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"Friends" is a synonym for human contact, or so it seems.
That’s a big part of why FR is addictive.
After reading the article, I’m still puzzled why I would want a Facebook page. It seems so narcissistic — like driving around in a car with humongous speakers blaring “Me, me, look at me!”
I have facebook, I never use it. Now I feel bad that I, in some way, made this guy rich.
No, what should make you feel bad is what these guys are going to do with your data should they buy the company for $10 billion.
I have never gone to the Facebook site, --but haven't there been stories right here on FR of some girls being harmed by people they "met" through Facebook?
The ‘money line’ the whole article is the one that implies that YOU will have control over the access and use of whatever data is entered into either of these data files. There is one reason, and one reason alone that these sites are worth anything to any corporation and that’s the ability to access, mine, correlate and analyze the data there - it’s all about mass-customization of marketing - using data about you to focus ads on you, your preferences, and actions.
In the meantime, databases are triangulated and parsed and profiled and sold.
it's information that's unique to you and you don't even get a cut. what a cool racket that is.
death to databases.
I still like the idea of my close friends and I having shared experiences, real live contact and learning new things about each other in reality, not virtual reality.
Maybe it just speaks volumes about my generation, but its never wise to get too much information up front. There should be some bit of mystery and intrigue to make life interesting.
Hmmmm....wonder what Facebook would do with my data.....false name, false birthdate....etc.....I use facebook to monitor young relatives......
That seems more myspace than facebook. Facebook is a little “higher end” than myspace and doesnt seem to have teen skanks on them.
LOL! I don’t know the difference between these websites. I just don’t bother to go to any of them.
Geez Louise...this kid must be a helluva poker player, because I would have sold the site to Yahoo for the initial billion, and then live out the rest of my days on a tropical island filled with 500 supermodels.
Once they sell out to a large corporation, they'll change the website in order to make it more profitable and in the process they'll alienate facebook customers.
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