Facebook: Wake Up!
Posted by Nick O'Neill on December 5th, 2007 2:26 AMI don’t mean to get carried away here but seriously, what the hell is Facebook doing? I think they left for vacation a couple weeks ago. I just got back from New York and the first thing I see is an article spelling the demise of Facebook. Honestly, I see Josh’s article as nothing more than an excellent piece of linkbait. The bottom line though is that Facebook is getting beaten up and they aren’t doing anything about it.
After talking with some large agency representatives tonight, I’m realizing that Facebook has been damaging their momentum with brands over the past week. One person that I spoke with informed me that a number of their larger clients were extremely hesitant about any advertising or marketing campaign that involves Facebook due to the negative press that has been going around. While this individual was convinced that the noise would die down, it was difficult for them to convince the client of that.
So what needs to be done? Robert Scoble made a few suggestions yesterday and I would heed his advice. Facebook needs to come out with some sort of official announcement in the coming days. Whether or not this was initially a PR disaster, the blogs have now effectively turned it into one and Facebook isn’t doing a damn thing.
If you work for Facebook, please do the following: get off your ass and do something! This is not going to just simply die down and at this point someone should be fired because no matter which way you spin it, this has been a huge mess up. It could have been squashed earlier but I suggest somebody does something about it now. Bear in mind, I am still a Facebook fan and an avid user. As a massive fan I like to root for the team that is making the right decisions. Keep on making them! Hope this doesn’t come off to harshly 
(4.64 out of 5)
(4.22 out of 5)
December 5th, 2007 at 3:27 am
The blogosphere amplifies everything, Facebook was never as good as the blogosphere said, and now its not as bad. Facebook were never going to get the whole of the Social Networking pie and the events of the last week have just emphasised that.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:27 am
The blogosphere amplifies everything, Facebook was never as good as the blogosphere said, and now its not as bad. Facebook were never going to get the whole of the Social Networking pie and the events of the last week have just emphasised that.
December 5th, 2007 at 7:00 am
[...] I’ve never seen anything like it in the annals of fast-rising tech companies that fail.” allfacebook calls the story linkbait, while Kara Swisher thinks what’s we’re now seeing is the [...]
December 5th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Wow! That came off very harshly!
December 5th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Wow! That came off very harshly!
December 5th, 2007 at 11:58 am
You’re exactly right. I also like facebook, but they are shooting themselves in the foot, and will damage themeselves permanently if they don’t get going with some real rethinking and clear and *accurate* and non-condescending communication.
I am delighted to hear that the major brands are staying away for now. That is the goal of the facebook group just started up called I Won’t Shop At Sites that Have Facebook Beacon, at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6285479023
We don’t want the retail sites we shop at to send all our Personally Identifiable Information (PII) anywhere - facebook or otherwise. Everyone needs to wise up to that simple fact.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
son of a bitch, no sooner does Nick write this, than Mark Z. comes out and apologizes (enabling Nick to resume bein’ Facebook’s #1 Fan boy!)
December 5th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
You’re exactly right. I also like facebook, but they are shooting themselves in the foot, and will damage themeselves permanently if they don’t get going with some real rethinking and clear and *accurate* and non-condescending communication.
I am delighted to hear that the major brands are staying away for now. That is the goal of the facebook group just started up called I Won’t Shop At Sites that Have Facebook Beacon, at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6285479023
We don’t want the retail sites we shop at to send all our Personally Identifiable Information (PII) anywhere - facebook or otherwise. Everyone needs to wise up to that simple fact.
December 5th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
son of a bitch, no sooner does Nick write this, than Mark Z. comes out and apologizes (enabling Nick to resume bein’ Facebook’s #1 Fan boy!)
December 5th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Great timing!
December 5th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Great timing!