Matt Campbell - Likes

FriendFeed is the easiest way to share online. Learn more »

fwd: The guy who took the iconic picture of the Iranian protests, Amir, is now on friendfeed (http://friendfeed.com/amirpix). His site has now been banned in Iran. More: http://tehranlive.org/2009... (via http://friendfeed.com/scoblei...)

June 16 - Comment - Like - Share

Peter Renshaw, Nikhil Dandekar, Thomas Hawk and 28 other people liked this

A technology like friendfeed is the great (ok, _a_ great) cultural equalizer http://skitch.com/micahwi... . - Micah Wittman

:) - Nimaa

Johnny Worthington

Reading Cat In The Hat to Georgia (again) :D

April 30 from email - Comment - Like - Share

Attila Babo, yasin ghasemi, Kol Tregaskes and 80 other people liked this

On the hat? :D - Simon Wicks

27 more comments

Fixed :P Thanks Simon... DAMN YOU IPHONE!!! - Johnny Worthington

Haha, mine does it too. - Simon Wicks

Your avatar and this pic are such a big contrast. - Mathew™ one of a kind

Nice shirt. Outstanding work. And I like that you are snugly in the pink blanket. Manly! - Louis Gray

She's up a wee bit late isn't she? - Glenn Slaven

This was taken about an hour and a half ago. She is snoring like her daddy now :D - Johnny Worthington

I also see Yertle, a Sneetch, and what I think is a fox in socks. Did you keep reading after she fell asleep? :) - Laura Lou Who is tired

The Cat in the Hat is good, but Hailey prefers The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. More cats! - DGentry

Denton, I agree with Hailey! :) I love all the little cats. - Laura Lou Who is tired

:D - Penny

I need to read to the kids more. I mean at all. :( - Josh Haley

Big girl bed! - Rochelle

Sweet Picture ... - johnpiercy

LOVE. - Derrick

Josh, it is NOT appropriate to read your "Hello Kitty Slash Fanfics" to your children! Also, parenthood FTW - Mike Nayyar

Hey! First time I've seen the beard! Wow!! :) - Lindsay

How many times have you had the pleasure of reading that particular book so far? - Anne Bouey

My kids would totally go for a Badtz Maru story - Josh Haley

LOL I remember reading them stories, it'll be my turn to do that soon enough =) have fun - Benjamin

look how cute is that? she is soo tiny compared to you! - Caroline

johnny, please give some more room for that cute kid. You are taking all the space. :) - AJ Batac

Aww, what a sweet little munchkin. And your daughter is cute, too! - Bec Rowe @d0tski

That's just too cute!! :) - Tony C

So rad, my 2 yr old son love Green Eggs and Ham - Drew Lucas

Anne, this is a favourite from my childhood so I have read it probably hundreds of times. Quick calculations, I have probably read it to Georgia about 200 times (possibly more). I love it so much that I usually start off with it and go back to it after about 3 books. - Johnny Worthington

Keep on reading to her, and you will probably have a reader-for-life. - Victor Panlilio

That's the plan Victor. She has had hearing issues which have been resolved so she cosumes books (well, her daddy reading to her). Rach says I use to many voices so she stays awake longer but that's how this daddy rolls :D - Johnny Worthington

Johnny: many voices? have you seen/heard Sarah Jones? If not, check out (on TED) http://bit.ly/KSuv8 - Victor Panlilio

Robert Scoble

A dollar bill taped to the floor of friendfeed's offices: - http://www.flickr.com/photos...

July 7, 2008 from Flickr - Comment - Like - Share

Monique, Pat Hawks, Erik S and 152 other people liked this

This is a dollar bill taped to the floor of FriendFeed's headquarters. It's a bit of social engineering. They figured out it kept people from tripping on the cord cover because people noticed the money on the floor. - Robert Scoble

29 more comments

Hahaha, now that is brilliant stuff. Awesome. - James Mowery from twhirl

This is a fantastic idea. - Jeremy Botter

Wouldn't last long in my office. - Ralph Whitbeck

Amazing.. think I could use this idea in a few places. - Roberto Bonini

Clever! i love it. - Kurai (ff) from twhirl

Simple, clever, great idea. That FriendFeed crew is a bunch of smart fellers! - Brandon Wood

My employer is too frugal to do that. - Jonathon

Inexpensive risk management. - Dave Pelland

Ha! Very clever. - Brent Newhall

brilliant - mjc

Wow! I'm speechless. - directeur from NoiseRiver

nice - Mike Collett

The dollar bill trick doesn’t work with strippers though ;) - Moved to Facebook

@Earl: Consider it a stripper-filter, then. You know someone's a stripper if they trip over it. - April Buchheit

for some reason i expect a "stripper filter" to be something coded using regular expressions. sad, i know. - Karim

The message here is that Web 2.0 companies are so ignorant of money and revenue that they even step over a dollar on the floor - Jason Carreira from twhirl

Genius!!! - Joe Dawson

Interesting. The photo has been viewed more than 500 times, but has only earned 62 likes and 19 comments. So, for every 1 thing we can see here there's another 9 people hanging out lurking in the shadows. - Robert Scoble

@Scoble the old 90-9-1 rule :) (well almost) - Naor Mark

You could always just superglue some road kill to those things. Nothing gets people's attention more than a dead opossum. - Andrew Leyden

wow, that's funny smart! - Susan Beebe

I stubbed my toe on that dollar. - Michael Muller

Heath And Safety in the UK would not approve....but I do! - Toby Graham

"but has only earned 62 likes". This currently stands as the most-liked Flickr photo of all time. - Vezquex: God of FF

I forgot about that photo. It does work, though. Everytime I visit friendfeed's offices I see the dollar and I'm careful not to trip over it. :-) - Robert Scoble

That's dumb. Why couldn't they afford to run the cord somewhere where it wouldn't be in the way in the first place? - Robert Peña

As an IE I can state that's definitely not something to publicize. Definitely not OSHA Kosher. - Adi

Great idea will have to remember this. - Laura Gonzalez

Reminds me of the deli counter in grocery store in Scotts Valley across the street from NorCal offices of MetaCreations (the Fractal Design arm of it). Local companies'd go there for lunch daily. PROBLEM: Deli counter pencils (for marking your sandwich menu) disappeared at frightful rate. SOLUTION: Deli affixed pencils with price label. Price: $100.00. Pencils stayed at store. :) - Susan A. Kitchens

Haha I like that trick for keeping Pens from going missing Susan! - Garin Kilpatrick

bre

I've been mostly awake and robotting for the last 36 hours. Life is good!

April 18 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Matt Campbell liked this

Sarah Perez

SuperNews! Twouble with Twitters - http://current.com/items...

March 18 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Jeremy, Wayne Sutton, Moushumi Kabir and 86 other people liked this

omg! I so have to tweet this - Sarah Perez from Bookmarklet

23 more comments

That's actually kind of annoying - sofarsoShawn

oh, it's just silly, I laughed - that's how a lot of people perceive twitter - Sarah Perez

This is hilarious! - Josh Haley

So good. - Mike Nayyar

fantastic - pestwave

Very funny. But hit a little close to home in spots, which is why it is funny. - Robert Scoble

Thanks for sharing. This is absolutely hilarious! I need to tweet about it :) - Troy Malone

LOL omg that was funny, however it was way over 140 characters long. - Ardail Smith

I recently spoke with a school board about modernizing their curricula and using new online tools to network with community and disseminate. All they've heard about it is the stereotypical inane tweet "I'm getting in the shower now". They don't quite "get it". I'm not evangelizing Twitter per say (go Yammer!), but I am continually finding myself trying to help people "get it" so they can make organizational decisions. I worry they'll watch this video and fortify their underestimation of socialmedia. - Ryan Stanley

Along these lines, look at this photo of me with the Texas Governor: http://www.flickr.com/photos... -- yes, I'm friendfeeding/twittering while meeting the gov. - Robert Scoble

It's vivid！ I so have to tweet this~ - 呢喃

The true about Twitter :) - Roman Zolotarev

always good to have a "reality check" and it looks like the twitter nut is older than the other guy...cool - Barbara K. Iverson

Funny and well done! Is it just me or does the skeptical character rememble Kevin Rose with longer hair? - Micah Wittman

well done. - Thomas Hawk

I felt a little uncomfortable. I don't want to be like these people. Y'all are my friends, RIGHT? ;) - Jorge Escobar

awesome, LOVE IT - Shey, Jamaican of FF

I laughed out loud, srsly. - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

brilliant, I did not see the marketing experts though - M F

Awesome - Moses Kpetigo

This isn't funny, it's hilarious - Len Lynch from twhirl

As the advert shows..twitter certainly has a future but the concern is can twitter cope with overcapacity? - Moses Kpetigo

Very Funny....I'll pass it to fellow Twitter Peeps..... - Key Andrew

Yeah so I tweeted this, despite it's annoyingneas factor, it is kind of funatatastc and grows on you - sofarsoShawn

Robert Scoble

Why Facebook has never listened to you and why it should NOT start now: http://scobleizer.com/2009...

March 21 - Comment - Like - Share

Robert Clockedile, Ann Hudspeth, Michael Kacer and 88 other people liked this

I think you're right on the money about Zuckerberg: just imagine if Apple started listening to the peanut gallery. I don't think having companies try to pitch us every time we make a move online is the answer, and I think companies already know it (which is why you weren't contacted, among other reasons): if anything would cause a mass migration it would be that. People cannot stand... more... - Mark Trapp

41 more comments

Glad to see someone gets it. It's not about early adopters now for Facebook. - Mike Seidle

Yeah, Apple does some really anti-user things once in a while. Rocky just got his new MacBookPro and said "where's the firewire 400 port?" Anti user. But, in the long run, probably the right thing to do. - Robert Scoble

Mark: friendfeed is showing how to do the "better search" part. Already I can tell friendfeed "show me all items that have the word 'stroller' in them that have two or more 'likes'". That's not yet possible on Facebook, but I bet it will be by the end of the year. - Robert Scoble

Brilliant article; right to the point. - Pavel Senko

Similar to this is the story about Google currently testing around 50 shades of blue. It might seem crazy, but when you have Google's traffic volume, a miniscule change could significantly improve the user experience, even if only subconscious. Nightmare for a designer perhaps. But in the larger scheme of things, a good move. - Graham English

Zuckerberg is smart. An insightful business machine with clarity! Excellent listing of the 7 phases of FB. It's easy to see the growth thus far and where the potential is. Thanks Robert! And congrats to you and Maryam! - Amy Flynn

If Facebook did listen then nothing would have ever changed. - Mathew™ one of a kind

By the way, Facebook hasn't listened to me, either. If it did, I'd have more than 5,000 friends. :-) - Robert Scoble

Robert: if they do that, then they have it made. FriendFeed is nice, but its missing the information about who I am as a person, instead favoring to define me by what I do or like online. After a year of using FriendFeed, I'm not sold on that being the best approach, especially when things like "like" require other people to feed the engine. I'm really into philosophy of language,... more... - Mark Trapp

I get why people don't like the new layout on facebook but I actually like it. It seems more interesting. It seems like a lot more people on my friend list are engaging with it and sending out more missives. There is more of a stream of stuff. And I like that. - Aidan Mann

Mark: yup, and I've told the friendfeed team they should let me skin my profile and add more data to everyone. Facebook is way ahead there and I'm not sure friendfeed will catch up. Friendfeed, though, is far better for creating public conversations and I don't see Facebook going there and Twitter has no leadership willing to piss off its current users to go there. - Robert Scoble

Aidan: have you ever wondered why Twitter is getting more hype than Facebook despite Facebook growing in #s of people far faster? I have. Easy: Facebook doesn't yet allow public entities. IE, celebrities, news organizations, etc. That's going to change pretty quickly. Then what will happen to Twitter's hype machine? It will shut down. - Robert Scoble

It's true. The great Business prof and writer Clayton Christenson always says one of the worst things you can do is listen to your customers. They will drive you right out of business. If they listen to their customers' demands they will leave themselves vulnerable to what he calls "disruption from below" ie, in this case FriendFeed and Twitter. - Stephen Pickering

Apple does anti-user stuff MOST of the time, not some of the time. - Matthew DeVries

Steven, I don't think Christensen said that at all. You aren't vulnerable to disruption from below until you've actually risen, and you don't rise far if you are always chasing new sales and ignoring your current customers. The mistake is only listening to your best customers at the expense of marginal customers. That cedes fertile ground to upstarts. That doesn't mean that it is smart to alienate much of your existing customer base, as FB seems to have done, trying to crush an upstart. - Erik S

No offense to anyone :-D but the comparisons to Apple? I mean, come ON. Apple is *visionary.* Jobs said "I see a smartphone that people enjoy using," and lo, it was done. Jobs said "I see a day when music will be DRM-free," and lo, it came to pass. That's *vision.* Facebook is *imitative.* They are borrowing from Twitter and Friendfeed. Imitation is in their DNA, going back to Facemash... more... - Karim

I don't agree with part of what you say in your post, Robert. I think Facebook does listen to what its users say even if that doesn't always translate into doing what those users want. The terms of use issue is a great example of this as is its promise to incorporate user feedback if enough people demand a particular change to its future terms of use. Where I agree with you is that Zuckerberg must press ahead with what he and his team feel is the best direction for Facebook despite minority protest. - Paul Jacobson

"Then what will happen to Twitter's hype machine? It will shut down" That is pretty bold :-) - Edwin Khodabakchian

Great food for thought. But I strongly disagree. The previous changes to FB added to the site's functions, but in many ways the latest round of changes have changed the fundamentals of the way FB works. It smells to me of a company desperate to find a real revenue stream ... the ad network just doesn't work effectively, the applications and API are all but dead, and now the useful tools like events and groups have been pushed into the background in favour of a suite of copycat Twitter-alike functions. - Toby Hede

I strongly disagree with you on this topic Robert. I have been a part of social networks in Turkey for a very long time now and I have seen why and how the trend shifted from one network to an other. The reason people settled on Facebook was because it was mainstream and appealed to the casual user. You and I can filter a massive feed from networks to see only what we need to see but the casual user can`t. Many will switch to an alternative if Facebook insists on its new model. - Tuna

I actually think the outrage over this new design is less than the last time... and I hear everyone always threatening to leave if they don't switch back... please, it may happen one day but the very nature of facebook keeps them safe from people just leaving... people will whine, they'll threaten to leave, and then they'll get over it... - Shawn Duffy from twhirl

how to eat a big cake?!!a part at once. this is what FB are making they are trying to make the user adapt to change in a progressive way, many change are to come personally I enjoyed robert post, it is very instructive, and I agree at a point you may not listen to your costumer, but there is no reason to say it to them. leader some time have to keep some observation for themselves, and to not comment on any thing. - abdellah

Google figured this out a long time ago. What users actually DO online far outweighs what they say they do. Hence, initiatives like Google Labs - Jim

@Jim: I wish I could bottle that motto and make sure everyone understood it. Too many take qualitative research and let it guide decisions and then become confused when the product isn't effective. - AJ Kohn

Because in the end it is about making Mark Zuckerburg (even more) rich off of our information. Recording each and every like, click, and post to better help target our eyes towards a bunch of useless garbage and trying to own our images, thoughts, and ideas along the way. I suppose knowing that might help avoid being played. - Tim

I will wait. I like that you predict such nice things, but I am not sure that a bad user interface is what will bring in the business. On the other hand, I am still waiting for the revolution predicted in Naked Conversation and the Long Tail to happen, so a bit more wishful thinking won't hurt. I agree that FB has to move forward and they should go the way they want to go, otherwise it will end up in a mess. - Roland Hesz

Reread the post, and yes, I am positive that the current user interface mess up has not much to do with the bring in the business. Making it harder for people to find anything will make it harder to move forward I think. But it Zuckenberg's toy, he should do it the way he wants. Probably has a long range plan. - Roland Hesz

Robert, hadn't actually stopped to think why twitter was getting so much hype. I have a touring bicycle. It's inspirational to get tweets from Lance Armstrong. How this will translate to Facebook in the future will be interesting to say the least. My daughter works as a graphic designer, is more a myspacer than a facebooker, she tweets but mainly as a device to communicate with me. Her comment to me recently was that she has noticed business everywhere including twitter handles. Congrats by the way! ;] - Aidan Mann

just think people don't like changes, so that's why they keep arguing bout the new design. Even if the changes are for good, people dont like it so they complain... not leaving, but complaining all time. - Dani Martínez

Henry Ford said "if I'd given customers what they want, I would have invented a faster horse." - Tom Landini

I'm not getting the "objects in the social graph" part of the later phases in Robert's post. Can someone provide an example? How about where to find out more? - Tom Landini

people didnt like the fb change, yes, including me. After reading above blog i came to know the intent & agreed also. So, people could be making opinion just based on UI changes, without knowing the reason, like me? Was it possible for fb to handle it better? - Roshan Ramachandran from twhirl

Tom, I took that to mean things like, "You are now following @MarsPhoenix," "The U.S. Government is now following you," "You have a new friend request from the 2nd Floor Break Room Coffee Pot." - Karim

Will Facebook listen to the public and change it's frontend, probably not until user numbers vastly drop. Do I like the new look? No. Will I stop using Facebook? No. Why? Well I know how facebook works enough that I can get the information that I used to get from the frontend other ways. It's just harder to get. It's for this very reason I believe the users will carry on using Facebook. They don't like it, but they can get by. Hence facebook will think the majority like it & it's the minority moaning - Paul Bainbridge

@Karim: Thanks. So that means the US Gov't and the Coffee Pot can see all my posts etc. on Facebook, I guess. But if it also means I can see all of the stuff on their networks, that opens things up pretty wide. And I guess I can see who's been drinking coffee on the 2nd floor when I'm away. - Tom Landini

sadly, the US Government almost never posts pictures from that wild party where it got drunk and destablized a foreign government. also, the Coffee Pot just tends to whine a lot about how you haven't refilled it lately (despite location awareness showing you were in the same room twice today), and it complains when you don't fill it up with the "right" brand of expensive coffee and then gets all petulant and moody because it thought you and it were friends. - Karim

Pity people without Facebook; they never know what the gov't is doing and have to suffer the coffee pot's silence. Hey, wait and minute .... - Tom Landini

....They get news from other places? Facebook seems useless from my point of view. - ralphsaunders

@Karim - The Poor Coffee pot, will it ever learn? ;) - Tyson Key

@Karim - i'm fairly certain the gov't can see what you're doing whether on FB or not. wave to the g-men! - .LAG liked that

ErikS Facebook hasn't risen already? Are you kidding me? If nothing else he simply couldn't stand still while everyone was spending their time on Twitter or his business would die. He had to shake things up, even if it were just for the sake of shaking things up. I like it. Competition is fun and healthy and gives us more valuable products and services. - Stephen Pickering

Stephen,are you kidding me? You said that "Clayton Christenson always says one of the worst things you can do is listen to your customers. They will drive you right out of business." That's a mischaracterization, I explained why. Taking it on your own terms, you're suggesting Facebook got as far as it did without listening to customers? I don't buy it, given that there are multiple examples to the contrary. True, sometimes businesses have to risk alienating customers. We'll see how it turns out this time. - Erik S

Robert Scoble

Since USA is socialist now, according to conservative talk radio, I'm wondering when we'll get a good transit system like all other socialist countries in Europe? Not to mention health care for everyone?

March 8 - Comment - Like - Share

Squid, Jorge Barba, Matt Campbell and 104 other people liked this

good transit system.. still waiting for ours in quasi-socialist britain! It's quite sad, most forms of modern transit originated/pioneered in Britain yet we have the worst in the developed world :( - alphaxion

71 more comments

Don't forget Japan! - Mona Nomura

Japan has the best in the world from what I've seen.. Only system I've ever seen that apologises heavily for even a minutes delay! Tho, always remember that the Japanese system is a private company, not state run! - alphaxion

What countries in Europe would be on this list of "all other socialist countries"? - Brian Sullivan

alphaxion: I guarantee you that Britain's is worse than USAs. - Robert Scoble

Guess the lack of a good transit system and universal health care proves that the USA is not socialist ... yet. - Rene Wirtz

@Scobleizer Thanks to a socialist government once upon a time in Saskatchewan, Canada has a health-care system today. - Jaffer

@robert I know Britains is worse than the USA.. expensive and piss poor. We created the railway system, yet we've fucked it up through a constant swapping of private, state, private, state then private once again. Along with the total lack of investment that goes with it while state and the money grubbing greed of private use. It's obscene, £70 to £120 just to travel from Leeds to London. Disgusting! - alphaxion

"old socialist countries", i'm not so sure or very old!!! I can take the example of France !! we are not socialists since more of 10 years ! - Alice Cordonnier

They just did a study of extending DC's metro system down into Fredericksburg which is 50miles south of it. While it came out to be several billion dollars, the idea of it was cool to see just because it had been considered. Would be wonderful but will never happen. - Dean Clark

Mass transit here is pretty bad, 75' to the bus and when I get downtown I have to walk a whole block. And I only have 4 times to choose from. - Clarence Westberg

@alphaxion: You are correct, the privatization made British Railways from one of the best to one of the worst. Strange thing is, even after seeing things go downhill in the UK, the Dutch government decided to semi-privatize its railways, making it a lot worse. Luckily, Holland is a small country so effects are going to be minimal. - Rene Wirtz

Isn't "according to conservative talk radio" fairly unreliable? :) - Louis Gray

+100 Louis. - Alex Scoble

@Brian: from the top of my head: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Greece. And now of course, the former Eastern Bloc countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. - Rene Wirtz

There's enough dumbing down of America without repeating the stuipid socialist accusations. - Rod Bauer from twhirl

Phoenix just opened up a light rail system and ridership is 30% higher than they predicted. - Francine Hardaway from twhirl

Rene -- all those countries are socialist in your mind? What countries in Europe or elsewhere would be classed as non-socialist? - Brian Sullivan

@Brian: not only in my mind, though, these countries are all based in socialist principles, even though some countries don't have a socialist government per se anymore. Countries that are not socialist are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria. - Rene Wirtz

Francine: light rail in Seattle has been a compleate boondoggle. It's not about predicted ridership, it needs to be about how many are served for how much per person. - Christian Burns

I would love to have a decent light rail system here. Our only option to get anywhere is to drive. We live in a gorgeous patch of farmland, and the traffic is starting to smog everything up. - Karoli

The lack of good rail system of any kind in the US is a travesty. I've never understood why that was the case. One would think you could be proud of a good rail system. It has nothing to do with being socialist of otherwise. Every time I go to Boston (to pick a US city), I enjoy hopping onto a train and just getting to places - Deepak Singh

regardless of the underlying intentions (socialism, liberalism, etc.) hasn't the time for universal healthcare and mainstream mass transportation finally come. I mean dammit people, stop the excuses and get some work done. What we need is the ability as a populous to prevent our government officials from getting paid if they fail to do their jobs...sessions over, and there are still bills on the table; sorry but I guess you don't get paid. - Bob Blunk

Christian: Over what period of time do you amortize the cost? A light rail system is a long, long term investment. Taking into account projected growth in the area alongside the longevity of the system, I'd imagine it's quite the bargain. - Karoli

Robert: I am starting to agree. We have a broken system that relies on insurance tied to employers. That must change. - Christian Burns

I think the biggest problem in the US is the sheer size of cities. New York and Chicago are the first and only ones to have adopted a subway system early enough on to actually offer viable public transport. In a city like Atlanta, there's 2 subway/lightrail lines, and there's over 5mio people and there's a lot of commuting. - Rene Wirtz

Great article about self-employment, freelancing, and health insurance http://www.city-journal.org/2009... - Karoli

Karoli: I live in rural area, transit just doesn't fit into our lives. Central planning to fix a decentralized problem. - Christian Burns

Rene, American cities aren't really that large, and definitely carry small populations. Tokyo does just fine with a wonderful rail system. The challenge is that to add transit now would take a lot of effort to fit into existing infrastructure, but IMO it has to be done - Deepak Singh

Loving trains in Japan and loved the trains when I lived in Portland. I would kill for high-speed between Los Angeles and San Francisco, so let's hope it comes soon. Decent but long article with some good points about US and high-speed trains here: http://is.gd/mrYY - Ken Brady

@Deepak: I disagree that American cities are not that large; traveling from one end of Atlanta Metro to the other is almost a 2 hour drive. There are countries in Europe where a 2 hour drive means crossing borders into another country. I do agree that a mass transit system must be added to a lot of cities. And now is the time. But, I do know that there is going to be a lot of... more... - Rene Wirtz

Rene -- do you have some sort cite that backs your assertion about which countries in Europe are socialist/non socialist (or based on socialist principles -- whatever that means). What about Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia? - Brian Sullivan

actually, the malaise in the british rail system dates to when the state took over them during the 40's. A lot of stations and routes were loss making but paid for by the more profitable. When the government took control they began a systematic shutdown and withdrawl of funding from the system until its eventual re-privatisation. The only problem is that the system is in such bad need of funds that private companies now running it don't want to invest and are simply milking it for all the money they can get - alphaxion

@Brian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - socialism and the industrial revolution almost went hand in hand in Europe. - Rene Wirtz

I'm holding out for those awesome European family friendly parks and museums - Erin @queenofspain

I'm just pissed I have to listen to this brainless sheep-driven socialism drivel for the next eight years. Baaahhh. Baaahhh. - AJ Kohn

@alphaxion: So, at least the government kept whatever lines were more or less profitable up and running, doing maintenance and planning. After privatization, the maintenance and planning part got dropped, since it is by far the most expensive, without having a clear ROI. Private companies are always gonna be looking at the bottom line and with a vast operation like a country-wide infrastructure to maintain it's not gonna look good. - Rene Wirtz

Rene -- I don't see any mention of most the countries in your list in that article. Is that the best information you have? - Brian Sullivan

Operating a profitable mass transit system within the US is difficult because of your wildly variable population density. Improving your archaic zoning system would be a good first step. - Steven Cains

Um..how come there's no mention of Amtrak? The challenge isn't just getting govt. to set up a mass transit system but also getting folks to use it. There's a lot of competition from alternative forms of transportation like planes and automobiles. Let's not forget that every time the gas prices go down, public interest in using public transportation goes down as well. - MiaD

@Brian: I'm sure I can find all of them, but I'm too tired and lazy to google at the moment. You can believe me or not, either way, the US is not even near to what they think is socialism. - Rene Wirtz

Child care for new moms. Doctors who pay house calls. Three months vacations. Sign me up. - Martha

We're building light rail in the Dallas area. The problem is getting to the rail stations and finding a place to park. They closed the route that went right past our house - on a main road! The parking lot is clogged with cars from cities to the north that don't pay transit taxes. We can't use our own trains! - Julie Barrett from twhirl

Do socialist countries also get high-speed rail? The US could really use a good high-speed rail network. - KyleHase from twhirl

we have been trying to get light rail in Kansas City forever. - Rodney Taylor

that's just it tho, "British Rail" as it was when it was nationalised barely put any money into the system at all and only grudgingly did any maintentance. No upgrades were made, no investment in new rolling stock. It was a total shambles. Stations fell into disrepair and entire routes were left to rot or were ripped up. - alphaxion

(There is a story making the rounds of a pool reporter on Air Force One who asked President Obama, "Are you a socialist?" ... we offer some context for that reporter, and any others that might be lurking here on a beautiful Sunday evening.) http://www.dailykos.com/storyon... - i thought this was really cool, and thought that it might settle this subject once and for all - - Chris Heath

chris - way to avoid any position at all. +1 for a completely empty statement. You implied that a 0% cap gains rate created a China that is a net creditor nation. Or would you like to tap dance out of that position ad well? - Brian Roy

Hey, you decided to go ad hominem... I just pointed out the error I your thinking... Not sure I was in attack mode. Care to answer the question? Is China being a creditior nation a direct result of a 0% cap gains rate? - Brian Roy

Were some comments deleted? Can't figure out what Brian Roy was responding to. - Morton Fox

nah I posted on the wrong thread. My bad. - Brian Roy

Hong Kong's transit system is something too! :D - Michael Forian

I'm from Europe and now am living in NYC. I find that NYC public transit (subways, buses, taxis) is actually fairly decent by my European standards. Sure, it's sometimes dirty and crowded, but it gets you to places and runs with good frequency. If you live in the city close to the transit, you don't need to have a car at all. - Jaanus Kase

Ha ha.. wonderful perspective - even the Democrats are so far right of centre in European terms to be ever be called Socialists. - Ian D. Nock

@Ian: *highfive* I keep saying that, too, but no-one believes me! A lot of Americans equate the Democratic Party with socialism, while I was taught in school that in the US you can choose between right and extreme right. - Rene Wirtz

Believe me, Robert, you don't want these. I'm from Hungary and I know what I'm talking about. Social healthcare sucks... Even if you live a totally healthy life, you pay the same insurance as those who smoke and drink all day long. (And get the same service) - Berci Mesko, MD

people who have not experienced socialized services do not get it. They Idealize them! - Leonard Boord

@Berci Mesko and those who drive and those who eat too much or badly, exercise too little, have sport injuries, unprotected sex, have dangerous and stressful jobs etc if we start thinking in those terms not many people would be entitled to healthcare at all. Personally I prefer not to judge and have universal healthcare combined with decent education and prevention plans - M F

I am from the government I am here to cure you.... - Leonard Boord

Just a question: Is it really true that the current system in the US means that people who take care of themselves and use little healthcare don't subsidize those who are less healthy? Given the high costs of basic insurance I find that almost impossible to believe but it would be interesting to know some facts especially when these 'socialized' vs 'whatever we call it' comparisons are being made. - Robin Barooah

@Robin: as far as I know everyone has Medicare tax withheld form their paycheck even if they are not insured throug Medicare. (I may be wrong though.) - Rene Wirtz

@M F: I understand, but having universal healthcare means you get an average service no matter how hard you work in life. Nurses, doctors have an incredibly low income compared to those working in the US. The whole system is far overloaded and nobody has time for you. I know there are serious problems in the US healthcare system as well, but I don't think you really want socialized medicine. Though, you should give it a try yourself. :) - Berci Mesko, MD

From what I have experienced (I grew up in the UK, and now live in the US) neither 'ideological extreme' is particularly great. There are some aspects of healthcare that make it difficult to run from a purely capitalistic perspective - i.e. accidents happen to even the most careful people, demand can potentially be infinite, etc, and at the point of use there is no market and consumers are vulnerable... - Robin Barooah

...and there are aspects that make it difficult to run from a purely 'socialized' perspective - i.e. a lowest common denominator service may limit quality of life unfairly, those who take care of themselves end up responsible for those who don't, demand is potentially infinite, metrics are hard and medical decisions become politicized etc. - Robin Barooah

To me this means that our tools are too blunt to solve the problem as one thing. Either we need more sophisticated tools (which I don't see), or the complex problem needs to be broken down into simpler ones that we can solve with out blunt tools (which I think is eminently possible). I believe that Obama is sophisticated enough to recognize this. Whether or not he can implement it given the vested interests he has to work with is the real test. - Robin Barooah

In the 19th century, the US built an incredible rail system that tied the nation together, all with private money. The entrepreneurs are now called "Robber Barons". It's little wonder that private enterprises doesn't want to step up again. - Robert Hafer

@Berci Mesko I live in Britain, I'm familiar with a national health service free to the point of service, with all its faults.Having said that I don't want to put my health and trust in the hands of a company that thinks about its profit first, I don't want them to do unnecessary procedures when I have plenty of money (as has had happened in some private clinics in Europe) and deny me care when I need it the most. And I don't want anyone else to be in that position. - M F

what is interesting -- how many people have opinions on socialism/socialists, while context they mention reveals they have either little or no clue about true socialism and how those historical examples of *socialism* were far from schoolbook definitions... and then-love-now-hate from ex-little-cousins in Central Europe looks like they hasn't learned lessons of history, rather go the opposite way (hint - negation is not productive and helps only in very short term). - A.T.

@M-F and Berci: some countries in Western Europe have adopted a two tiered system: 1) base care, including prevention, pharmaceuticals and dental, for everyone (everyone pays for it, everyone can benefit from it) and 2) for an extra premium you can add more specialized items to the base insurance, like private hospital rooms or extended dental plan or prolonged manual therapy. This way, everyone has the same base insurance coverage and for those who can afford it, they can get a better or broader coverage. - Rene Wirtz

@alphaxion Europe is a lot more compact than the US. so don't hold your breath about getting a transit system for everyone. Health care is so expensive because of insurance. Our economic system is a house of cards - one that is on the verge of tumbling down. More government is never a solution; it always adds to the problems. Real solution is growing food & shopping locally, supporting communities, decentralizing. That is in OUR best interest but not the best interests of the global economy's plutocracy. - Internet Strategist

Transit is partially affected by population density, exclusive of politics. The western U.S. differs greatly from Europe, though I will grant that European nations discourage auto use more, thus incentivizing mass transit. - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

I should clarify that I was talking about intercity travel, not intracity travel (though the same issues apply to southern California - who's gonna build a rail line connecting Ontario to Orange County?). - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

Time for high speed rail from San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, too San Diego. - ka3drr

Robert Scoble

A famous VC told me this week that Facebook is raising another round of funding at about the $6 billion valuation mark. I wish I could invest! Would you?

March 7 - Comment - Like - Share

Delip Andra, Mike Koss, David Berrebi and 85 other people liked this

Can't wait to see how big their round will be... - Daniel Brusilovsky

132 more comments

not sure I'd invest as the upside would now be relatively limited - Shannon Clark

He told me he was considering putting in $25 million. Asked me if I would do that with my money, if I had it. I said "yes." Of course it wasn't my money, but Facebook is the success story. Far bigger than Twitter and thanks to Thursday's announcement I can see a way for them to make a ton of money. - Robert Scoble

I'm still not convinced that they will ever make decent revenue. That being said, if they were public I'd probably pick up a few shares. - Blake

Nope. Too late to make the bib gux - Francine Hardaway from twhirl

No i would invest in twitter. - Mark Overy

Blake: I wonder if we thought about that when the yellow pages first came out when the telephone was very new? - Robert Scoble

Is there information involved in that yes that isn't public? Like what the books look like (how much revenue are they generating anyway?) - What is the burn rate? etc - or just because you think they will "get there"? - Brian Roy

Brian: he didn't give me any other information than this. I'm just going over their growth rate, they are growing a service the size of Twitter every 10 days or so. - Robert Scoble

what is their annual profit value? how much of that money would you be likely to get back in real terms - "potential" doesn't count, I would want a real idea on how much money their business is generating before ever considering investing. (I don't have the cash so it'd be a moot point anyway) - alphaxion

I call Facebook "the velcro of social software services." They have tons of ways to hook you onto the service. Far more sticky than Twitter. - Robert Scoble

Invest in a company that lost $8 billion from its valuation 16 months ago? No thanks. - Mark Frost

alphaxion: in 1991 could you have answered that question for Google? No. That's why VC investing is risky. - Robert Scoble

Robert: 25 million seems small for Facebook, considering their last round was $100M, but of course that is only one VC. Did he tell you how many where in this round? - Daniel Brusilovsky

Mark: every company has lost billions in values in the past 16 months. That attitude toward investing seems pretty stupid. - Robert Scoble

Robert - totally agree with the stick factor. My question is how good is the plan to turn lots of users into actual dollars. If that plan is good (in a non-obvious way) I'd invest. - Brian Roy

Daniel: no, he just told me what he was considering. I'm sure if it's a $6 billion valuation there will be a large pool of folks in there. - Robert Scoble

Scoble: Good analogy. I'd like to be optimistic about it, but I just feel in my gut that the whole social networking business model still hasn't been perfected. I definitely agree that Facebook will eventually crush Twitter. - Blake

Brian: you have to read between the lines, but now they are letting brands be full members of the social graph. I see a TON of ways to make money with that. - Robert Scoble

Brian: here's my audio report from the Facebook announcements this week. http://friendfeed.com/e... -- in there I explain a bit about how I think Facebook will make money. - Robert Scoble

No, at least not in long term. - andrei_c

This doesn't seem like a good idea. $6 billion?! Robert, when you say Facebook's announcement last Thursday are you referring to the new page layout for companies? How much money can that bring in? - Nidhi Makhija

Robert - agree. But revenue is about execution. So it isn't just seeing how you might/can do it but being able to get to it effectively. That is Google's genius. I'm guessing they have the team/leadership to do it... which is why I'd invest (once I heard the plan). - Brian Roy

Nidhi: my bet? Over next 10 years? 100's of billions. Look at Google. Facebook is facing an opportunity that's in Google's neighborhood. Of course a lot of implementation is to come and they might not get there. But I see a way that they'll make billions. - Robert Scoble

If they monetized as well/heavily as Myspace, they would only have $1B revenue. Is he really going to get a 10x return with a $60B exit? Common or preferred? - Andy Beard

Brian: right. And who is on executive team at Facebook? They are executing pretty damn well. Just go see Sheryl Sandberg. She was an executive at Google and knows the secrets to delivering value. - Robert Scoble

depends on liquidation prefs, but assuming i got at least 1x preference i'd be an investor for anything south of $10B. at $6B i'd be pretty bullish; that seems like a reasonable number if you look out 3-5 years. - dave mcclure

A $6 billion valuation would make Facebook more valuable than: Salesforce.com, Sun Microsystems, or NetApp. In fact, you could buy Sun + eTrade + Sirius Radio + TiVo and still have more than a billion in pocket change left over. - Louis Gray

Not a chance. I'd run screaming from the building before I invested in Facebook. Sticky does not mean profitable. I remember that 1.0 adage "Get the eyeballs first and then monetize". Lots got the eyeballs - few figured out how to monetize. - AJ Kohn

Andy: the opportunity here is a lot bigger than $1 billion. MySpace is small change compared to what Facebook is going to do. - Robert Scoble

Andy: When I go to MySpace it tells me NOTHING about my friends' behavior when it comes to other businesses. The social graph is very powerful for businesses. Much better than what MySpace built, which is why key executives are now leaving MySpace. - Robert Scoble

I'd invest too yeah - Kaysha

I would invest. I believe Facebook is the OS for social media and something more. They are the White Pages of the Internet. And with an upside limited only to the imagination. - Jeff Pulver

Robert - You'd really feel safe investing in a company whose valuation isn't stable though? - Mark Frost

@Jeff - gawd I hope not .. if that is the case then the net is truly a wasteland - Steven Hodson

Negative. not at $6bn. We have absolutely no idea what it's worth, let's be honest. Nobody does. It's a straight gamble. I'd prefer spend the cash on buying into cloud-enabling companies like Cisco and server manufacturers, and the best placed players in the cloud ie Google and MS. Maybe... - john conroy

"going to do" ... Digg, Facebook, Twitter ... they all say they're "going" to figure it out. Show me a profit stream (even a small one) and I'd invest to help scale it but ... until then Cuba Gooding man ... Cuba Gooding. - AJ Kohn

Mark: that's why it's investing and not a "safe bet." VC is risky. So is buying stocks in companies. - Robert Scoble

Does anyone know for sure - does Facebook lose money every time they sign up a new user? In other words, is the reason they're raising money because their revenues are not growing to cover the costs of their growth? - Simon Brocklehurst

...further to my comment above: I guess what I'm really saying is that at $6bn you're talking about a blue-chip, and Facebook isn't a blue chip. It just isn't. - john conroy

Only tonight I glanced down my 'All Friends' list in Facebook and noticed how many have no status. They have not logged in for 7 days or more. In many cases a lot more. The fascination is on the wane. My money? No chance. - Darren

Robert: Oh I know that, I'm just speaking as someone with a very light wallet. ^_^ - Mark Frost

Darren: tell me how that is any different from this: http://twitter.com/TechCru... -- I bet your Facebook friends are more engaged with you than these Twitter followers of TechCrunch. Click on 100 followers of Techcrunch. How many have more than one Tweet? 2%? 10%? Not more. - Robert Scoble

john: Facebook is signing up 700,000 new users PER DAY. They are growing the size of Twitter every 12 days! Blue chip? Absolutely. Just like Google was. (We had the same arguments over Google six years ago). - Robert Scoble

Sticking the money into GOOG currently would be a better deal, or AMZN - GOOG 2008 revenues were close to $22B http://finance.yahoo.com/q... - based on similar can you see Facebook making $15B yearly revenue? - AMZN is currently worth only 6x gross profit - but then the VC neds to invest his money somewhere, and GOOG and AMZN are not an option - at the end of the day FB is relatively low risk and an easy way to do your job as noone will criticize you for it - Andy Beard

Andy: you probably said that sticking money into Alta Vista back in 1999 was better than Google. Wrong. - Robert Scoble

and yet - the fact they are raising money shows that we have not found a revenue model that can cope with the costs they incur - they could self-implode in 1-2 years unless they find an effective route to making break even - Nick Halstead

Read today in Times magazine an interview with Zuckenberg stating that monetization is not a priority yet while Facebook is not getting break even. By the way, did you notice that the fan pages are changing and look now as profile pages??? - Zack Brandit

Zack, yes. That's exactly what I was talking about here: http://friendfeed.com/e... - Robert Scoble

Chris: that's wrong. Everyone on my forums were talking about Google in 1999. Google didn't have a business model until 2004. - Robert Scoble

The problem Facebook has is that people seem to get bored of it. Most people I know are using Facebook less today than they were a year ago. I never saw this pattern with Google. - Simon Brocklehurst

Scobe: Are you saying that Twitter's model isn't working, so Facebook's will? Twitter v Facebook comparisons are fruitless. - Darren

Darren: no, I know that Facebook has 175 million who has signed in in the past 30 days. How many does Twitter have? - Robert Scoble

Chris: OK, I'll grant you the 2003 Google. Same points still hold. You're not feeling it? I look at how addicted my wife is to Facebook (and all her friends). This is the Google of this time. - Robert Scoble

VC is certainly risky.. but a good VC wouldn't fritter their money away on something that wouldn't give even a little bit of ROI. Otherwise they simply wouldn't be a VC for very long. It's all well and good saying "I can see a lot of ways to make money", but visions and actual money making are 2 different things. So again, please answer the question and say how much they're currently making. - alphaxion

"Everyone on my forums", is exactly what White said, "hardly anyone" and he is correct. - coldbrew

I am not saying it is a bad investment, but just imagine Facebook had already IPOed last year, and had managed to figure out their revenue to bring it up to Myspace level, which would then make a $6B valuation on $1B revenue in line with GOOG and AMZN current market valuations. - that isn't necessarily a VC deal - unless they were looking to use the money for a cash purchase of Twitter at a much lower valuation than $500M - Andy Beard

coldbrew: this whole conversation sounds exactly like the ones we had about Google in 1999-2004. - Robert Scoble

I seem to remember a company called Netscape was all the rage once. - Jan Simmonds

@Robert: No, Facebook is not the Google of it's time. Why? Because Google had a very clear business plan. Sell relevant ads on search results. Direct marketers (me) got it and ran with it. It took time to build but it was a clear business plan. Facebook doesn't have that. Unless of course they turn Facebook into a search portal - if they did that then the size and stickiness of the site benefits them. Outside of that, SocNet advertising doesn't seem like a viable business plan. - AJ Kohn

I have concerns about Google if I'm honest. They too fritter their money away on investments that fizzle out to nothing (look at how many companies they've bought for massive amounts of money), they're limited by the size of the advertising market (think as to why they've been slashing their returns on adwords). Now, their positioning as a content delivery caching network is a far more promising one. - alphaxion

Robert - "no, I know that Facebook has 175 million who has signed in in the past 30 days. How many does Twitter have? "- you're still doing it! Comparing Facebook favourably to Twitter does not mean Facebook have a good long-term model. I'm not saying they don't, but if a Twitter comparison is the best these dudes can come up with then "I'm out" as they say on Dragons Den. Using your sort of comparison, who is to say that Facebook is now Google 2003, whilst Twitter is Google 2000. Which one has more upside? - Darren

AJ: you are totally wrong. Google didn't have a clear business model until 2004. I know the guy at Exodus who almost shut down Google because Google couldn't pay its bills. - Robert Scoble

I think most of you people hang out mostly with technophiles; I do not. - coldbrew

Chris: I'll never been that rich. I'll buy you a mojito at the Ritz, though! - Robert Scoble

@Robert: Just because they couldn't pay their bills doesn't mean they didn't have a model or plan. It took time to build the momentum ... the world of search had to 'tip' - and when it did Google was well positioned *because* of their plan. I just don't see that with Facebook. What are they positioning for? - AJ Kohn

I can say most of my 30-something friends only found FB w/in the last 6 months. - coldbrew

Facebook fatigue has certainly been kicking in for myself over the last few months whereas as my Twittering has been increasingly steadily; it is just more "useful". That said, they certainly do appear to be functionally converging, so who knows where we'll end up... - Kevin Bluer

Who cares about Facebook or 6 billion. What are your plans after Fast Company? Is it true they fired you? - Bruce Curley

Kevin: I can see an argument about why you're right, too. On Gillmor Gang right now is Paul Buchheit of friendfeed and he points out that Twitter's API is far easier to develop on. That ease is turning into all sorts of interesting apps which make Twitter more useful. Well, we'll see. That's why VC is risky. - Robert Scoble

If I were a VC I would definetly ask for a clear plan of privacy policies before investing. This might be an issue. I would also ask for some guidelines on future updates since FB seems to change its homepage very frequently, which might result in a potential failure. - denizoktar

Bruce: I was not fired. I resigned my video show to do something else. I still am working part time for Fast Company. I have plans, but will not disclose them in public until SXSW on Monday. - Robert Scoble

@Robert: BTW - this famous VC you mention ... are *they* investing or not? - AJ Kohn

AJ: they didn't say, they said they were considering it, but sounded like they were going to the way they were talking. - Robert Scoble

At this point, I would not invest in anything except gold. Do I sound like a nut? Just check out this video. Actually look at a bunch of his video over the years. Peter Schiff called it all. http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Dan Cornish

I'll point out again that while VC is an inherently risky business, it's still not a case of blindfold and a dartboard. A real VC would do at least a bit of research and see if they're likely to make a return. If not then they're not a real VC and would either be someone who can afford to lose the money as it's merely a diversion (kinda like how some people will play the lottery) or a fool. - alphaxion

Dan: Gold and Guns sounds like a good investment strategy over next year. Me? I'd rather be in Facebook, but then I have a front-row seat. - Robert Scoble

Chris: that's funny! But no. :-) - Robert Scoble

@Robert: Interesting. Always appreciate the information and opinion. I disagree and don't see it myself but ... I've been wrong before. Been right before too though ;) - AJ Kohn

You all need to read this: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009... Indie Facebook Developers are making over $700,000 per month. Like I said, there were billions and billions here. - Robert Scoble

Chris: I do not have any compensation or investments coming from or going to Facebook. I was invited to a press conference on Thursday and I have a front row seat because I know many of the players involved and I read a lot of RSS feeds. :-) - Robert Scoble

YES, I would invest!!!!! - Susan Beebe

how many of the indie developers are making those figures compared to the rest? also, advertising revenues, again, are the core of it. How about revenues that don't involve advertising, as in real and repeat direct spending of the users not the whim of other companies? And of this, how much money are facebook themselves making, since this money fountain could all vanish should facebook itself fold. - alphaxion

I bet the sum of the people advertising using Adwrods are making more than Google in total as well - the people using Paypal owned by Ebay are most certainly making bank, but for some reason Ebay isn't even worth 2x their revenue. Facebook developers making $700,000 is nice, great return, invest in the app developers if there is longevity. - Andy Beard

@chris that's my fault.. I called it adwords in a previous comment - that's what 5 beers does to my word association skills! >.< - alphaxion

coldbrew: sorry, I just fixed it. NO need to keep an error in my comments here. - Robert Scoble

Was just watching you on TWiT Live, streaming to my 52" TV via my PS3. Look fwd to seeing more of your stuff on TWiT Live in the future Scoble. - Jason Cartwright

am I the only one who seems to feel a certain air of "ponzi scheme" when your questions are met with answers of "look at these people, they're making money from it" without actually answering your question? And don't think I'm being snarky for snarks sake. I'm really trying to gain an idea of why people are yelling "buy this!" without really backing their claim up beyond "trust us". - alphaxion

I'd rather buy Citi stocks. - Mona Nomura from fftogo

alphaxion: when you are getting 700,000 new people a day you'll figure out a business model, especially since you know so much about each of those people. People who understand media understand the very real value that Facebook is aggregating. - Robert Scoble

again with the vague "well, we'll figure something out... just keep pumping us with money" answer. It doesn't matter how many new people you are getting onto your service if there's no tangiable sense of where the money to pay for it all is going to come from. It is very similar to youtube. They were burning through cash, plenty of people were saying "it'll make loads of money somehow" and yet google are *still* looking for ways of making it profitable. It's the kind of economics that leads to bubbles. - alphaxion

there simply aren't enough people that sit down and ask "so, how much money are you making and how much do you project this to grow realistically". Which is the basic tenet on which all companies have been founded upon. - alphaxion

@scoble... yes, people who understand media understand the real value that Facebook is aggregating, but not if they understand it in the OLD way. if this just turns out to be another advertising play, because they've 2 billion+ eyes, another way to sell people products they don't need, then, hell, I may as well pull the plug and turn Amish... not really, but all of the stuff I've been hearing so far doesn't make be feel confident that FB will end up being anything we haven't already seen... time will tell. - .LAG liked that

Robert this question sparked such interesting comment you should ask more like this. FB to me is a fad unless they buy Twitter which with Twitter Search could be a new Google. Agree with Chris White MS-Facebook is a likely outcome. Google must acquire Twitter before Vodafone wise up. Keep leading the debate Rob. - Thomas Power

What are they spending all that money on? Or is just banking money to survive the future? - Brian Sullivan

@chris actually, I'd say google was all about weaving themselves into the sites they lead you to and the apps you use to access this info. Having dealt with administrating systems, it's scary just how many apps and system builders integrate their toolbar and desktop apps and how many sites use their services that then collect data on the visitors/users. A question I don't see asked and answered often enough is "why?" - alphaxion

@ChrisWhite I certainly meant Adwords not Adsense - people advertise to make money (well unless they are Auto manufacturers) - I look on the Facebook App platform in many ways as an advertising platform, though the transaction that takes place between Facebook and the App developers isn't currently a financial one. Maybe things would be different if Facebook had their "FacePal" payment... more... - Andy Beard

Chris: that's an interesting question. CEOs should never say never when it comes to future business decisions. - Robert Scoble

Social networking seems like a commodity to me. Glorified address book + activity stream. Long term, why is it likely that one company will continue to command a proprietary premium on this? Do we not forget the staggering claims for these companies made doing the last bubble? Lots of similar claims by many companies in the 90s about # of user signups, stickiness, etc. If social networking platforms are so valuable, they're gonna get commodified. Wordpress isn't the only way to host RSS now is it? - Ray Cromwell

I can feel a Metcalf's law retort coming. :) It's like Godwin, but for business model debates. - Ray Cromwell

Chris: really? I don't agree with you. If you can survive through a depression you'll come out of it with rocket burners on. Google gained steam through the dotcom bust. Facebook is gaining steam through this downturn. - Robert Scoble

Chris: agreed. Facebook is not going to have an IPO this year. I can assure you of that. The investors will keep them going for two more years at minimum. - Robert Scoble

Can I buy Twitter instead? - Patrick from twhirl

@Robert: You're thinking "aggregated rich user data" is going to be the Facebook gold mine? Advertisers and brands I chat with think it's of marginal value. Big brands already have deep databases with multiple reporting lines. Prizm data gets you 75% of the way there most of the time. Facebook might be another reporting line but it's not going to be a game changer. Search re-targeting has more value IMO. - AJ Kohn

@AJ .. I would have to agree with you. Just think of all the data that things like those Air Miles cards collect, or credit card companies or even national brand shopping cards ... one would think that the data collected that way would be a lot more valuable than anything that FB could produce. Makes one almost think that this whole Social Media as a marketer and advertising goldmine might not turn out to be Fool's Gold - Steven Hodson

Nope, two reasons. First, I won't invest unless I agree with the core mission of the company. Second, FB may do well in its early times after going public, but it's not at all clear to me that it will be a great company in the 5-10 year range. - LogEx

@Steven: Exactly! Air Miles. Grocery Cards. Credit Cards. Warranty Information. Rebate Information. (You'd be amazed how many people register their stuff!) It's a bit scary what can be obtained from credit bureaus as well. Facebook is the corner, the stoop - it's where people stop to talk and shoot the breeze. Not much gets sold there. I need to connect with them when they're walking past the mall. - AJ Kohn

Think about the data a company like Mint.com or Quicken Online collects and compare it to the data that FB has on spending patterns and interests. They know enough (but currently don't use this info) to definitively tell you that you're spending $50 a month on BlockBuster, and could reduce it to $20 a month if you change to Netflix, saving you $30. - Ray Cromwell

How many more rounds of funding would you expect? It seems like you might get washed out by later rounds. - Todd Hoff

Everything you hear lately makes it sound like he's had to change that point of view about $15b if he wants capital. - Hutch Carpenter

Great discussion. Some points: the "No one can monetize this space" argument is false. As an advertiser (and a top 3 one at that), We are. And, quite well. #2--However, I wouldn't discount MySpace just yet. FaceBook is a wonderful white pages, it's possible MySpace will be a wonderful Yellow pages. We'll see. $6B is steep, but one difference this data has from the others mentioned (credit cards, gas cards, etc) is it's voluntarily provided--which is a much different data stream. - Alan Edgett

I would, in an instant. Many Facebook apps alone have 10 times the number of users Twitter has. - Jesse Stay

If they gave me a way to keep certain people unaware of my presence, I'd go back - Aaman (Clone of FF)

If I had the choice, I would rather invest in LinkedIn. Facebook has a phenomenal growth there are still a lot of open questions: You talk about businesses creating pages in facebook. This is probably a good idea in the sort term but in the long term as a company you probably want more control and ownership over your community and like AOL had to open up the walled garden, Facebook will have to do it to or someone else with do it for them. In that more open world, monetizing the graph will become even harde - Edwin Khodabakchian

wow...another around... - Kenyth

Interesting. Most seasoned entrepreneurs will tell you funding isn't an ideal expansion, that multiple rounds is not a good sign. Means it isn't making money. Social networks are nothing more than message boards with different user features - and have always been very hard to monetize. New competition is coming fast into the market from places none of y'all are looking at, and we're... more... - Patricia

Patricia: Google had multiple rounds. So did many other big Silicon Valley companies. - Robert Scoble

Chris: I know all about dilution. The reason Zuckerberg is so smart is he's taken a few rounds without getting diluted much at all. Got $300 million from Microsoft and only gave up, what, 1% or so of Facebook? That's brilliant. - Robert Scoble

Robert, yes, i know. it can be an asset. it just depends on if they can find a way to make money. google found it. let's hope facebook does too. i root for all businesses to succeed! - Patricia

still all I am seeing is the taking of money with no idea on how it'll generate money back, which is the whole point of investment. It seems to be the whole mantra of web apps "get users, then figure out how to make money" instead of the way every other industry functions. Do you really think this is a lasting way of doing business or will the web have to mature and show they can make money with their creations before investors will part with large sums of money? - alphaxion

when thinking about it, it is a particularly Valley way of doing business - I don't see this kind of investment internationally, they demand to see what will happen with their money and how it is likely to generate its own revenue instead of going cap in hand back to the investors. - alphaxion

and I do agree that this way of investing does lead to some really innovative things that ordinarily wouldn't stand a chance of making it. But, it is a big concern that the sites can't stand on their own without VC's propping them up by pouring round after round into them with nothing more than "it's gonna be huge!" as the reason. It'll only ever be huge if a cogent business plan exists, otherwise the only huge thing will be the bill VC's nurse at the end of it. - alphaxion

Facebook is finished - paul mooney

FB has the most chance of success because that's where non geeks go. It's the one service they want to use. - Richard A.

I don't get what non geeks has to do with FB's sucess ? - Asankhaya Sharma

Asankhaya: one word: "mainstream" - Claudio Cicali ♋

Interesting to note Apple could pony up $6 billion for Facebook and still have some $18 billion left over. - Mike Reynolds

@Mike .. maybe so but if there is one thing you can say about Steve Jobs is that he is a smart businessman who doesn't like to lose money - Steven Hodson

well i would not invest, fb has been for sometime now in a few years what ever profit could be made should have been made by now, the next big idea will kill fb forever, with the investment totally sunked in - briandsouza

UPDATE on this: Investors in Facebook are telling friends of mine that Facebook is not raising another round. It's possible that this is an opportunity that's being offered by someone who has stock already and is looking to get out. I'll try to find out more and report back. - Robert Scoble

I definitely would! - Pico Seno

Robert - whoa, "someone ... looking to get out." wow. yes, more info please. What is their rationale? - Susan Beebe

I wouldn't. I would rather invest in something simpler like twitter or friendfeed. - Siddharth Mitra

Interesting that the round is at $6 Billion. I heard that Facebook are supposedly only accepting external investors providing they are investing at the valuation of Microsofts investment. - Nicholas James

Robert Scoble

Sign on Leo Laporte's studio

January 4, 2009 from email - Comment - Like - Share

Emily Miller, David Z, Kol Tregaskes and 69 other people liked this

This sign seems to be a good motto for a friendfeed room. Thanks for joining us -- we are driving home now. - Robert Scoble from email

27 more comments

Was fun to watch too :) - Simon Wicks

I saw you, Patrick, Daniel B. and the rest of the crew sitting on (or standing next to) the ball. - Michael Perlman

Yeah, it was fun. They had so much more to talk about. Never enough time. - W. Kirk Crawford

Hahaha. Great Show! - Brent Cappello

Great show Robert. - Douglas Karr

great show :-) - Simon

Good show - Bwana ☠

Great Show - Tyler (Chacha) from IM

you're not driving home yet! - Chris Heath

great show guys, loved seeing Scoble's live show also. - Chris Pugh

Really enjoyed the show! Could have easily been a 2 hour show. - Keith Beucler

i love this! great show today. - Lise

Leo... Have scoble do a IM A Twit - Joe K

Awesome show! Dvorak was so grouchy, it was great! :D - CannonGod

Steve is going to plug feedsqueezer - Bwana ☠

Where can u find the video the FF video scoble did? - Claes Krantz

Awesome show to see live! - Billy Doyle

Leo should add a clause that says " TWIT is no responsible for any violation of NDA's or any other legal bindings." It is quite dangerous when people slip and forget they are on camera. - Steven (optionshiftk)

"After entering this studio, NDA stands for No Dumb Agreements" - Billy Doyle

Now, Gillmor is on the line. I hope he read this post. - Steven (optionshiftk)

That was a great show, learned a lot! - LA Snark

@Claes Krantz: Yeah, I'd be interested in seeing that too :) - CannonGod

Great show Robert! - Laura Zickus

Another T.W.I.T is in the...you know what I mean! Enjoyed the show! - Reggie L.

That would be smart - Tyler (Chacha) from IM

You cept asking if it was live lol.... - ralphsaunders

I can't even tell you the number of times I've seen people trash careers, friendships, and advertising accounts by taking for granted that a studio microphone isn't live. - Chris Baskind

That was a great show! The sign is great :) - Justin Levy