Comments on: Fadnation: Why Steve Ballmer Could Be Right

By: Leveraging Ideas » The Steve Ballmer Ballad

Leveraging Ideas » The Steve Ballmer Ballad — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:56:59 +0000

[...] Techcrunch chimes in var disqus_url = ‘http://www.leveragingideas.com/2007/10/02/466/ ‘; var disqus_title [...]

By: Ben Standefer

Ben Standefer — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:44:03 +0000

Geocities did not provide a way for the lay person to communicate with content as Facebook does. It was mainly for nerds that wanted to learn HTML rather than regular people. Because of this, Geocities could not nearly provide ‘most’ of the stuff Facebook provides, as the entire value Facebook provides is communicating and congregating with my friends online.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:10:38 +0000

All websites that rely on user generated content for their value are inherently going to be fads. That’s why Facebook is a fad, but Google’s search isn’t. It’s why YouTube is a fad but Hotmail isn’t. That doesn’t mean Facebook will go away once the buzz dies, it just means that the insane valuation of the company is just that - insane - because it is based on the current level of hype which not remotely sustainable.

By: SmoothSpan Blog

SmoothSpan Blog — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:19:47 +0000

What is a Social Network, Anyway? (Hint: It’s Not Geocities!)…

Marc Andreesen has been annoyed for the last time by people like Steve Ballmer comparing Social Networks like Facebook (or Andreesen’s Ning) to Geocities. His diatribe lays down a great blow-by-blow feature comparison on why Social Networks are…

By: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:38:56 +0000

BTW; I have never liked that picture of me, I have never looked good in baby blue shirts, please change it!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

By: Tt

Tt — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:59:00 +0000

“Saying Facebook is a fad is the same as saying iPods and MP3s are a fad”

What kind of a person compares a social networking site to music listening devices?

Music listening devices such as walkmans, CD players, MP3 players have never been “fads”. People like listening to music on-the-go and always will.

Facebook, on the other hand, is a TOTAL WASTE OF YOUR LIFE.

By: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:50:51 +0000

Check your comments; I have been telling you guys that this whole social networking thig is a fad for weeks! Check it out. Now do you believe that I am not Steve Ballmer not pretending to not be me?

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

By: felix

felix — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:38:20 +0000

Seriously. Even if you grant him that social networking is a fad, his reasoning is incredibly flawed. Social networks are only popular with the kids? That is an intrinsically wrong statement. Linked in is popuplated by professionals of all ages, Facebook is skewing heavily older. It’s simply a stupid thing to say at this point.

And if he believes that this is a fad that’s going down, why try to invest at an incredibly inflated valuation for facebook? Either he’s stupid or he doesn’t believe what he’s saying, no?

“Facebook’s backend could be duplicated over time”?? Are you seriously trying to make that point? Then so could Ebay’s. And they’ve tried. How they’ve tried. It isn’t simply the written lines of code, it’s the experience running a site of that nature and the evolution of the code to accomadate that. Not to mention the lockin of simply being a gigantic community.

Please.

By: GSmith

GSmith — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:56:51 +0000

Any digital space that is capturing huge audiences has value. The question is how to monetize the value and how quickly can the value be flushed when a competitive and more compelling offer arrives. Microsoft likes to invest in businesses that have barriers to entry and sustainable competitive advantage. They are waiting patiently to find such a business online. They prefer to copy as oppose to purchase. As soon as they see it, Ballmer will pounce as he is looking for a third major profit center for Microsoft. Microsoft has already announced they have a team that is working on copying google.

By: Blackthir13en

Blackthir13en — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:19:54 +0000

Saying Facebook is a fad is the same as saying iPods and MP3s are a fad. Neither will be permanent, they will shift and change. But the social impacts that they leave on our culture are indisputable. Steve Ballmer just doesn’t get it.

By: Tt

Tt — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:12:18 +0000

Ballmer IS right. Facebook IS a fad.

I’ve used it for a year and DEACTIVATED my account. Many of my friends are following me and deactivating their accounts.

Don’t waste your life on Facebook. Go get REAL friends. Go do REAL stuff.

By: matt

matt — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:12:41 +0000

These guys don’t understand the Internet at all.

By: Lonely CEO Media - Facebook Application Development and Consulting

Lonely CEO Media - Facebook Application Development and Consulting — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:21:06 +0000

Steve Ballmer Doesn’t Understand MySpace, Either…

Duncan Riley at TechCrunch does his time on the latest story- Steve Ballmer called Facebook a fad. It’s the CEO equivalent of a food fight (and no, not this food fight). Except it might be more serious, if Microsoft doesn’t invest.
Every po…

By: Derrick

Derrick — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:52:10 +0000

Hope this site doesn’t get sued for such an unflattering picture of Steve. Gosh.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:41:55 +0000

Facebook… the great time waster.

By: techmine

techmine — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:21:38 +0000

Ballmer is right and so is the article. Facebook is nothing but craze and will fade over the years, unless they fork out new services that could make people stay.

By: dcdave

dcdave — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:24:03 +0000

I don’t think facebook has legs at all. I’ve already begun using it less because I get spammed with crappy apps every single time I log on. It was great for awhile, finding people I hadn’t seen in years, etc. Unfortunately for Facebook, there is already a much more popular and useful social networking application. It’s called e-mail.
We’ve been through Friendster and Myspace, it’s just the nature of the game. The bigger Facebook gets, the less people will like it.

By: jorgebg

jorgebg — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:44:01 +0000

You make a lot of sense in the article, analysing Ballmer’s point of view.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:43:36 +0000

So much for the Facebook PR BS trying to pump and dump their valuation.

Ballmer is 100% right on this one. For anyone who was around in 1999, this is all very familiar … just take a look at the top ten web properties fro 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 … where are they now? What were the arguments used to justify their valuations? There is nothing new unde the sun.

These are fads, and anyone who is silly enough to be a buyer as opposed to a seller in this environment will regret it later.

By: Nick Hodge

Nick Hodge — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:53:21 +0000

Maybe it’s not the app, but the combination of “where your friends are” and the API. Could it be why facebook is more than a fad.

Or maybe the intarwebs/browser is the platform and people drift from geocities, msn messenger, skype, twitter, myspace, facebook to the next cool thing.

Or maybe it’s in SecondLife

By: Darren Stuart

Darren Stuart — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:33:23 +0000

If this was Steve Jobs saying this half the people jumping on this with a negative would be raving about how he is right.

lets face it if its MS or a top MS employee saying it someone is always going to have a problem.

Yes of course its a fad and be honest people how many of you are getting real annoyed by the constant app spam already.

However I think the management team at Facebook are smart enough to keep it evolving and move with the times.

As far as Social networks being fads I don’t see it because humans have always had some form of social networks.

The question in regards to facebook is can anyone else actually enter this market. I think we currently have the yahoo’s and googles of the social networking sites now. The future of Social networks are verticals and platforms like Ning.

By: LiPutz

LiPutz — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:43:29 +0000

Oh please people… this is from the same brain trust that brought us … ‘640k, that should be enough for anyone’. These retards can’t see beyond their soon-to-be-fantastic Zune. It takes no genius to know that anything to do with today’s hyper-active youth is but a passing fade… Facebook, pew! Whatz next please….

By: phenom

phenom — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:39:14 +0000

lol….the man knows how to run business with his witty stmts.
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 06:10:19 +0000

the Ballmer picture takes the cake!

A face only a mother could love:)

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:44:32 +0000

I think ‘Ballmer gets it,’ but what Ballmer doesn’t get is the inability of social media platforms to monetize users.

His arguments are not betting against the internet, so much as looking to avoid irrational exuberance. Microsoft makes products that people pay money for and that people are locked into using with high switching costs (.doc). To then go and invest in a company such as Facebook that 1) does not monetize its site well and 2) has almost zero switching costs, would be considered insane in almost any other industry.

http://www.leveragingideas.com/?p=466