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December 6, 2007

Hey Facebook, WTF? Stay Away From TechCrunchers

Michael Arrington

136 comments »

So I thought it was interesting and humorous when we discovered that Facebook, which will more than double the number of employees to 700 next year, was grabbing Google employees at an alarming rate - at least ten high profile hires so far, and 2-4 more each month.

But what isn’t so funny is that they are poaching from other startups and companies much closer to my heart. Namely, us. Today I found out that they’ve hired our product manager for Crunchbase, Ben Meyer. Ben was one of our star interns over the summer, and we kept him on in a full time role when the internship ended. We don’t have many people here at TechCrunch, and everyone is key. Losing Ben is very, very hard.

But apparently the gravitational pull of Facebook and their stock options was enough to lure him away from TechCrunch. Congratulations to Ben, who will be missed but will do well in his new job (and, I hope, give us internal access to Facebook’s admin system :-) ).

But I am not happy at all with Facebook about this. Stay the hell away from our employees, Facebook, and fill your employment quotas elsewhere. Anyone else, and I declare war.

On a completely unrelated note, if anyone has a lead on a highly negative Facebook story, send it our way. Unfounded rumors and pure speculation are encouraged. Jerks. (Update: this is exactly the kind of stuff I’m looking for)

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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    December 6th, 2007 at 9:44 pm

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  5. The Fall of Facebook - Dan Root dot Net

    May 13th, 2008 at 12:15 am

Comments

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  1. HGuide

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

    I am sorry to hear you’ve lost an employee to FB Michael!

    Although from another perspective, this should be a lesson to all employers. You are competing for talent, just as much as the talent are competing for jobs. At the end of the day it’s all about earning potential.

    Suffice to say that I’d personally be very excited to work for the TechCrunch!

  2. Jon

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:38 pm

    Nobody “owns” an employee, as such, they have the free will to work where ever they so choose, regardless of how you may feel about it. Hopefully you are able to find somebody who can replace them with equal talent.

    Jon

  3. Sean

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    Send negative shit about FaceBook to Michael on the double, people. Opportunity of a lifetime to get it posted.

  4. Malcolm

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:43 pm

    Percentage of commentators that will not get this is sarcasm; over/under
    Opening line: 80%

  5. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:43 pm

    Malcom - that seems about right to me. Let the righteous indignation begin.

    For anyone who’s trying to understand what I really mean, just read the bold part of the post.

  6. Tom

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    Your site is far more likely to bring a liquidity event than FB in the short term. As if FB will be acquired anytime soon! Plus waiting the 4 years for all the stock to vest and hoping for a IPO is not nearly as fun.

    Ben may have a mistake but he will probably like working with the hot girls that at FB more than seeing your mug every day.

  7. jackmayhofferr

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    Mike

    Are there any companies in the Valley other than Facebook to write about?

  8. Vijay

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:47 pm

    Michael bump up your stock options

  9. Allen Stern

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:48 pm

    Sorry to tell you this Mike, but I bought Heather Harde today:
    http://www.centernetworks.com/.....ther-harde

    So now you are down 2!

  10. edwin

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    Ben Meyer will be missed here at TC.

    Yeah Mike, facebook are jerks. I think we’ve had enough of facebook already. Lets talk about new startup which you love doing so much.

  11. sally

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

    Whatever you say Mike. I am sure that you truly are not happy with Facebook.

    In the end, Ben has a brain and Facebook understands you have absolutely zero impact on them.

  12. fistball

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:58 pm

    Hire me!!!Facebook, i mean it and I am serious about getting employed!

  13. Robin

    December 6th, 2007 at 4:59 pm

    That is one hell of a way to convey the message loud and clear…. It will be much more fun.. if Facebook also replied to this post in the same sarcastic way..

  14. MikeM

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    Ummmmm, Facebook or Techcrunch?

    A blog vs the new revolutionary force of the Internet bearing stock options?

    Ben is one smart man IMO.

  15. Adam

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:03 pm

    Should I take this as a hint that TechCrunch is not to be considered an unbiased news source, but a personal weblog?

  16. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:07 pm

    Adam -

    “Should I take this as a hint that TechCrunch is not to be considered an unbiased news source, but a personal weblog?”

    You’re a new reader, aren’t you?

    We don’t strive for balance. We strive to be correct.

    “Balance” is just a way for journalists who are too lazy to really understand a story to cover their asses when they write.

  17. J.P.

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

    Thanks Michael for bring the magic back :)

    This is a fresh breeze of joy.

    Congrats to Ben as well.

    Cheers.

  18. Andrew

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

    you have noone to blame but yourself. How could the guy not go for that, when you promote Facebook as the new coming of Jesus, posting about it everyday about how great it is and how its the new Google.

    They probably hired him to run Facecrunch

  19. Dalseem

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    bhuu facebook.

    Bhuuu disloyal employees. Here in India we now diferent.

    Contract me Michael.

  20. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    here it comes.

    please see comments 4&5 before you make yourselves look really dumb.

  21. Dream come true

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:12 pm

    I knew it this going to happen.

    I grew up gifted visionary. I can see someone give nasty spit Michael Arrington’s face and sucker punch. Its’ either Facebook or Google employees. All I can see Mike face cover redness, bloody scratch, and nosebleed.

    I can see photographer from New York Times, Business Week, valleywag, and some auto magazine photographer took snapshot.

    I have no idea why the earth am I here. Maybe, I should send future message for mike. “Duck” “Duck” “Duck” “Duck”

  22. Me

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:14 pm

    So … you hiring?

  23. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    #21 - whatever you’re taking, please pass me some.

  24. rick

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

    haha, not as many people not getting it as I’d have guessed either…amazing

  25. Planet Malaysia

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:20 pm

    The photo is suck. Remove red eye please.

  26. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:21 pm

    “the photo is suck”

    sigh.

  27. Amit Chowdhry

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:21 pm

    Ben Meyer probably wanted to make himself look like a Greek god prototype himself and Facebook is the place to be for that:
    http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....ent-300609

  28. chick-abc

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    Hey, Arrington, stfu and stop whining about everything.

  29. Amit Chowdhry

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    Hey Planet, your photo is suck!!

  30. Nick Gonzalez

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    Wow, we need a waaay better CAPTCHA for commentors

  31. Jessica Mah

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    Oh, I’m sorry Mike! Those bastards at Facebook are recruiting like no other… And I’m so ready to hear more crap news about them right about now.

  32. Jurado

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:31 pm

    Michael: May I suggest you think like a WS Brokerage house and impose non-compete contract with future hires….think twice about jumping books!

  33. open nothing

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:31 pm

    hey Mike

    this is what happens when you post about facebook every freaken hour. Now your employees or hmmm your ex- or soon to be ex- employees bought the kool-aid.

  34. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:32 pm

    Jurado - it’s a good idea. Of course we won’t be paying Ben’s last paycheck or reimbursing any of his expenses, but a noncompete is an even better way of keeping people here. Don’t pay ‘em, then sue the hell out of them after they leave. I like the way you think.

  35. Gregg

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    700 employes by next year. Holy crap!

  36. Jon Doerr

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:38 pm

    This is by far one of the most enjoyable posts in a long time.

    Does anyone know what job Ben took at FB? I wonder if it was a PR role ;)

  37. HGuide

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:40 pm

    “the photo is suck”

    That has the potential to become a web phenom. Move over goatsee.

  38. Cesar Cardoso

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:41 pm

    #25: in Intarweb Engrish, the correct is “The photo is teh suck.”

    Anyway, people need to relax a bit and have a bit more of fun.

  39. facebookjunkie

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

    man….tough times.

    But…I mean…come on…it’s Facebook vs. TechCrunch…..you know you’d jump on the banwagon if you had the choice too.

  40. MS

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:47 pm

    Michael - you must be one of the best employer out there. You have made it a big day for Ben. Lucky him. When are you going to write about someting real important to this world - like my company!!! BTW - read 4&5 above as well. ;-)

  41. steve jabs

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    20DC.com has your back Michael! We are against so many things Facebook stands for these days and poaching employees is always a really lame thing to do when there is such a large pool of viable talent out there.

  42. Mike

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:53 pm

    Great, now lets move on. Enough of the same old tired stories of the huge companies.

  43. iHero

    December 6th, 2007 at 5:56 pm

    It will be interesting to see if someone steps up to fill the gap — it will help you as the leader too — to see how deep your team really is.

  44. Steve Ballmer

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    Mikey, you are just upset that you aren’t good enough to make the cut!

  45. John Minnihan

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:05 pm

    Unfounded rumor: Zuckerberg was seen spitting on Mother Teresa’s grave. And then he dug it up and looked in her pockets, sending a list of the contents to partner feeds.

    Speculation: Sergey & Larry will soon outfit the 767 with howitzers and begin strafing runs, but not before selling ads on each of the munitions.

  46. gani

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

    this is inevitable brother. opportunity like this is very hard to resist. just like what you’ve mentioned in your post (the one in bold) congratulations to ben!

    cheers :)

  47. Captain Obvious

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:08 pm

    Don’t you just love it when people believe that they’re funny and don’t have a clue that they’re actually not … and then try to explain the joke to everyone.

    I do.

    Thanks for the post Mike :~)

  48. Ben Meyer

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    Sorry to get to this post so late in the comments everyone.

    Mike, Thanks for the great words. I will certainly miss the whole team as I’m sure everyone knows. I’ll only be working 10 minutes away, so I’ll stop by to visit of course. I’m sure I’ll miss Laguna especially.

    I just want to let everyone know how enjoyable and important my time was with TechCrunch. I had been a loyal reader for a year and half before I stumbled upon the position at TC. I jumped at it and found myself to be a part of a fantastic company with amazing people.

    It’s not often you get to sit next to guys as smart as Nick and Mark, and I never imagined I would be working for someone as accomplished and kind as Heather. Mike, your humor is something I’ll miss very much. I’m still thrilled that I got a chance to work with you after reading every one of your posts for so long. You truly are the Michael Jordan of Blogging.

    So, good luck to TechCrunch. I am absolutely certain you will all do incredibly well.

    Facebook, here I come.

    (Mike, I dunno about the internal access…that wasn’t part of my deal :))

  49. MrktMind

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:11 pm

    I’m kind of a new reader (8 mos. or so) and this has got to be one of the best posts yet. Great fun reading the comments! Especially #20

  50. techmine

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:14 pm

    Mike’s posts are crowd pullers :)… Like this one. Mike, you should be proud. You are competing with best talent pullers. Your chance to grab a google employee :)

  51. Scott Isaacs

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:15 pm

    “Unfounded rumors and pure speculation are encouraged.”

    I hear Facebook forces underprivileged children “rescued” from a third world country to work for pennies per week cleaning the dust bunnies out of their web servers — they don’t even get stock options.

    Or so I’ve heard…

  52. Facebook News

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

    Just off the press…

    Facebook to layoff 700 employees, after the Microsoft check bounces.

    This recent event has caused the valuation of FB to drop by nearly 90%, making the company worth $18 Trillion +-

    Mark Z seen discussing options with ex-Webvan execs at Fraiche over a natural yogurt with blueberries

  53. StartupEarth

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:19 pm

    “..if anyone has a lead on a highly negative Facebook story, send it our way. Unfounded rumors and pure speculation are encouraged.”

    Facebook spits in the tea of new employees.

  54. sean percival

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    I just found Duncans resume on Jason’s desk!

  55. Tom Buckley

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    All your ‘photo is suck’ are belong to us.

  56. Sebastian

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:26 pm

    Mike, do you think some kind of “etiquette” exists for hiring/being_hired?

    Personally I think it’s a complex issue, everyone can do what he wants with his life, just in the long term you’ll not contract people with a resume filled with short time work positions.
    From the employer side it’s very uncomfortable to see ravens flying around your employess everyday.

  57. Fake

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:27 pm

    You win some, you lose some…. Didn’t the person you report to came from another company? Get a grip…. Employees leave because they get better offers……. it’s called at-will-employment…..

  58. Pran Kurup

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:27 pm

    Michael on #16, “We don’t strive for balance. We strive to be correct.”
    Is this your new tag line? Or “Fair and correct”? :-)

  59. Peter Sauer

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:28 pm

    Ben,

    Congrats - you deserve it! I hope you know though that I still expect you to send me witty e-mails.

    -Peter

  60. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:30 pm

    just correct

  61. Steve

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:30 pm

    congrats ben; my condolences techcrunch.

    p.s. ben, if they allow guests in, bring me to lunch or dinner there.

  62. Tonto

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:36 pm

    Let’s “Face” it, TechCrunch is the Fox News of tech blogging.

    Headline of the day:
    “Is TechCrunch is the media arm of Facebook?”

    You can change your logo now, Mike. It’s ok. We know.

  63. Tonto

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    (Congrats Ben) grumble.

  64. Matt

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    I haven’t read all the comments, but you should have a read of Matt D!ickmans article about fram: http://technomarketer.typepad......-fram.html

    THis image is classic: http://technomarketer.typepad......2019_2.png

  65. John Green

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:38 pm

    He dude,

    Why not pay your employees enough to keep them in your dugout? I’ll bet you did not even give him a contract with bonuses. Well, either he has too much talent for your business or you are paying min wage.

    Ah, lighten up. I don’t really mean it. Happy Holidays.

  66. Duncan Riley

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:43 pm

    congrats Ben + congrats Michael on a superb post, probably far too clever for half the commenter’s but I could appreciate it; with this wry sense of humour (with a u I ‘d note) we’ll turn you in to an honorary Australian yet :-)

  67. Here's what really happened

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    Mike - I have it on authority that it was Ben Meyer who originally ‘invented’ Facebook and that Zuckerberg has hired Meyer only to keep him quiet.

    Unbelievable? Yes, I know. After all, isn’t the truth just a rumor that everyone believes?

  68. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:46 pm

    Ben - what are you doing wasting time commenting here? Go get me some screen shots of an unlaunched facebook product.

    From today on, you are our super secret mole at facebook. don’t tell anyone.

  69. Sebastian

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    Mike, welcome to the Valley ;-)

  70. keikkeik

    December 6th, 2007 at 6:55 pm

    Michael you have disappointed me.

  71. 113.com

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:06 pm

    Simply, a win-win-win thing.. in particular, TC now has a live internal contact inside fb, that’s good news to all…

    Stock option? not so sure now, given today’s fb valuation.. highly wonder what exercise price the options would be, regardless of quantity.. no?

  72. Ben Meyer

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:07 pm

    Facebook is launching a noob detector software. All noobs within 3 meters will be pwned.

  73. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    keikkeik - oh no.

  74. Ben Meyer

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:29 pm

    Thanks #72 for adding…

  75. WiredMike

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

    These guys are doing lots of recruiting and have approached me: http://www.iMediaRecruiters.com/ not sure if they recruited Ben or FB directly :)

  76. Sammy

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:36 pm

    steal him back….?

    I don’t blame him though. Stock options are fun. Though, I wasn’t even aware facebook had stock. Try looking it up on marketwatch.com, it really isn’t there.

  77. Faramarz

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:46 pm

    haha look at this chaos. have fun editors!

    Michael, if anything, pride yourself of the talent you had picked before those guys snatched him. If anything, your credibility for potential just sky rocketed!

    Congrats Ben!

  78. Jesse

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:50 pm

    Can I intern at TC this summer? I’m a hott blonde chick, I promise! For real though, I can’t imagine how funny it would be to see Mike’s off the record opinions on things, and I bet it’s really entertaining looking through all the BS start ups that come through the office as well.

  79. Faramarz

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:53 pm

    @ 76 Sammy - LOL!! they’re not a public company! think of it as an IOU with cash value when ever the option matures

  80. Matthew Kanwisher

    December 6th, 2007 at 7:57 pm

    Haha Awesome ;) LOL

  81. Vibhav Sreekanti

    December 6th, 2007 at 8:01 pm

    Does anyone recall http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1771556 ?? Oh the pain of it all…

  82. Phoenix

    December 6th, 2007 at 8:04 pm

    Grow up, Mike!

  83. Roy

    December 6th, 2007 at 8:10 pm

    Look at the bright side to the situation — when TechCrunch buys Facebook, you can get revenge by demoting both Ben and Mark Z to supply room clerks. Then, when you buy Microsoft …

  84. Vijay

    December 6th, 2007 at 8:21 pm

    Awesome Ben. Good luck to your new venture. Michael, this post is awesome. Now I know why I stop reading every other blog and still come back for you.

    I should have guessed it when u like jobjab.

  85. Eric Ogunbase

    December 6th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

    Michael,

    I know you are sad to lose a family member to Facebook. But look at it this way…I’m sure that Ben is talented. But I’m sure that having your company on his resume may have helped.

  86. Ben

    December 6th, 2007 at 9:12 pm

    85+ comments for a post about an employee who leaves TechCrunch? My god, go do some work people!!!! Surely you’ve got something better to do…

  87. saj

    December 6th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

    lol. I like the sense of humor of your readers. Congratulations to Ben.

  88. Bess

    December 6th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    I heard Facebook fired new hires very quickly in early days. Rehire Ben if he gets fired.

    Need story. Not exactly happy about how Facebook handled developer relationship.

  89. SEO Mash

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:07 pm

    Ben is a smart guy, obviously he saw Crunchbase headed towards its rightful destination … Deadpool.

  90. Ouriel Ohayon

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:19 pm

    Hey Ben, this is great news. I join mike in the congrats and support his intention to trash Facebook a little more at any price :)

    Btw when you are at Facebook go say Hello to Netanel, one of my very good friends

  91. I don't need an ipodom

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:25 pm

    Mike, you can’t compete with over $300 mil cash FB just got from Microsoft and Lee. Stop writing about FB. Many readers here are sick of reading FB shits. FB has no real competition, not Myspace, not even google. You are the only one who are capable of crashing FB! And it’s easy, just do nothing.

  92. chris

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:27 pm

    I can’t wait to see FaceBook go under. I am personally sick of hearing/reading about them. The sooner everyone gets past the hype of this snooty little start-up the better.

  93. Techticles

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:30 pm

    Stop whining man. It’s business. And your emotional reaction says a lot about your management experience and attitude. I wouldn’t be surprised Ben left you.

    Declare war with whom? Companies with better option? At the end of the day, its what you give your people. So deal with it.

  94. Michael Arrington

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:37 pm

    Thank you, Techticles. I learned valuable business lessons from your comment. I promise to try to be better in the future.

  95. Future Rival Startup

    December 6th, 2007 at 10:48 pm

    I saw young Tila Nguyen at Main Street, flushing… She played street fighter 2. She was hell of magnet when I look at her eyes. I was so close to ask her out.
    But an idiot friend drag me away…. Ahhh who cares… She’s not my type.

    Mark Zuckerberg and really really like Tila Tequila. lol.

  96. John Weeley

    December 6th, 2007 at 11:12 pm

    Seriously Mike, this post didn’t look good. A lot of people treat TechCrunch like a serious news source, and don’t read the comments. I’ve been doing so for as long as I remember, and didn’t “get” the sarcasm from your post.

    Sure, I may be an idiot. But there are lots of idiots out there like me, and many of them will start wondering about the accuracy of your content.

  97. Sarcasme

    December 6th, 2007 at 11:13 pm

    Sarcasm is “the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.” - Dostoyevsky

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm and the bold text being http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm_mark

    For those who are lazy to click:

    Pronunciation: \ˈsär-ˌka-zəm\
    Function: noun
    Etymology: French or Late Latin; French sarcasme, from Late Latin sarcasmos, from Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein to tear flesh, bite the lips in rage, sneer, from sark-, sarx flesh; probably akin to Avestan thwarəs- to cut
    Date: 1550

  98. Sarcasme

    December 6th, 2007 at 11:15 pm

    John,

    “But there are lots of idiots out there like me” - you are just being sarcastic, are you not?

  99. mike

    December 6th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

    Behind the sarcasm I can see your ego inflating like a hot air balloon Michael.

  100. Dejan

    December 6th, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    ROFL, this has to be one of THE most hilarious posts on TC, but not as hilarious as the comments. :D

    But didn´t know that so many dumb people read TC. :P

  101. Ghaus

    December 6th, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    Mike !!! Does Facebook pay you money to write about them….is this a top secret pay post thing ? I doubt about it.

    Ghaus from Pakistan :P

    PS…I am not a terrorist….lol

  102. zach

    December 7th, 2007 at 12:28 am

    If Mike got the right offer he would probably be selling TC –stock and barrel– for a spot at FB.

    I know I’d drop a gossip blog for a tangible product any day.

  103. K.Kaviraj

    December 7th, 2007 at 12:40 am

    Am happy @least Mike has asked only for Screen shots and insider info about Facebook :-) …… good he didnt ask Ben for the User database !!! ;-)

  104. tyler

    December 7th, 2007 at 2:05 am

    Michael, as for Facebook stories, can you shed light on the discrepancy between Facebook’s purported number of active monthly users (can be found on their Factsheet under About Facebook then press room) and Compete.com’s analysis of Facebook’s reported unique visitor count?

    Facebook notes 57 million users versus Compete.com’s yield of nearly 30 million users. Am I misinterpreting something here? Keep fighting the good fight.

  105. I Am Not Posting To Spam My Blog

    December 7th, 2007 at 2:38 am

    Michael: I hear Facebook were trying to introduce something called Beacon which told everyone what you’d been buying on the Internet. Then people got upset about being turned into brand zombies, including heavyweight political organisations, particularly when they found that even if you said you didn’t want websites to send information to Facebook, they did it anyway. Zuckerburg had to first backtrack, then pull a humiliating U-turn. Could you possibly get an article out of that? Maybe it would even merit a couple of articles, although that would probably be stretching it slightly.

    P.S. Your post, and mine above, are irony, not sarcasm. Sarcasm is what @97 was talking about, and isn’t funny. If the hyperbolic parts of your post were put in italics, or if you were podcasting in a certain tone of voice that left no-one in any doubt that your choice of words was deliberately opposite to your intended meaning, then it would be sarcasm and you’d be a rubbish writer.

    The meaning of irony is best explained with reference to Alanis Morisette’s famous song ‘Ironic’. It’s ironic that not a single one of the supposedly ironic occurrences in the lyrics of ‘Ironic’ was actually ironic. That’s irony. Got it? If you do get it, please explain it to me because I honestly haven’t a clue.

  106. Joe Shmo

    December 7th, 2007 at 3:04 am

    Michael,
    Never felt so close to you as i do now after having read this post!

    As a founder like you i know what its like to lose a valued team member, and whilst we are happy for them, its a frigging headache for us

    life goes on…..long live techcrunch

  107. Pierre Col | UbicMedia

    December 7th, 2007 at 3:23 am

    No doubt: this post - not article - is the less interesting I’ve ever read on TC :-)

    By chance, the comments are incredibly funny :-) :-)

    That’s why I love TC !

  108. mick

    December 7th, 2007 at 3:51 am

    Off-topic, but does that guy look very similar to the little guy from that 70’s show??

  109. avinash

    December 7th, 2007 at 4:31 am

    Congrats Ben. Wonder why half the commentator’s don’t understand this post?? Are TC commentators so dumb??

  110. dave

    December 7th, 2007 at 5:03 am

    LOL! Dude…too many people take everything blogged here WAY TOO seriously.
    Get a life…or at least a sense of humor, people!
    Congrats, Ben and cheers to Mike for the fun…heh!

  111. Tonto

    December 7th, 2007 at 5:04 am

    Maybe it’s that TC is really bad at sarcasm?

  112. zedwards

    December 7th, 2007 at 5:18 am

    Jezus…109 comments into the post and people still don’t get the humor? What would have been great is if Ben posted an article trashing TC.

  113. James

    December 7th, 2007 at 5:43 am

    Hey, Mikey get with the program. This is the REAL world where REAL things happen. It’s supply and demand, you know..what they taught you in business school. Personally, maybe if you matched with FB had to offer, including possibly a future for this young individual, maybe, just maybe he would have stayed. But, we know you didn’t.

    It’s competition, baby. So suck it up and go, or bow out like the whiny butt you are.

  114. Daniel Thomaser

    December 7th, 2007 at 6:29 am

    hehe,
    especially the link to the love triangle story is great,
    maybe you should copy the legal disclamer of the Drama 2.0 Show, just to make it clear…

  115. Clement

    December 7th, 2007 at 6:46 am

    you know what, I still prefer myspace even it is a little ugly compare with facebook. But I am so tired with Facebook’s application. Every time you add an application, it will suggest you to invite all your friends in your network to use add it! Then I am getting a lot of spam requests or invitations which I am not interested at all! I just want to keep contact with my friends! Hate that!

  116. Jonathan Dingman

    December 7th, 2007 at 6:53 am

    Are you guys seeking to fill that product manager position any time soon then?

  117. Grant

    December 7th, 2007 at 8:10 am

    Solution? Hire a headhunter, steal from Facebook. The fact they can steal from Google proves any company is vulnerable.

  118. WinAndFun

    December 7th, 2007 at 8:50 am

    You have make your point clear :)

  119. Bernie Lomax

    December 7th, 2007 at 8:56 am

    Fad.

  120. Velioncho

    December 7th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    Though Mike tries to push it with “humor” label, it must have hurt him real bad , I donot recall this many comments of his in any posts. Humor is good way to vent it out.

  121. bill

    December 7th, 2007 at 11:35 am

    Michael…. Please offer Duncan as a peace offering. If you wont do this then Fire Duncan instead!

  122. J.P.

    December 7th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    Now I understand a lot better what´s going on on TC comments so far…

    Kid of sad, don´t Michael? :P

    (BTW, I was #19 “Dalssem”, it was a joke, that´s why I did use my real mail and site. Where you in pajamas?)

  123. The Pageman

    December 7th, 2007 at 2:32 pm

    “We don’t strive for balance. We strive to be correct.

    ‘Balance’ is just a way for journalists who are too lazy to really understand a story to cover their asses when they write.”

    Yay! for TechCrunch :)

  124. Andy Schweig

    December 7th, 2007 at 4:36 pm

    You crasy. I like you, but you crasy.

    Photo is suck!!! the 2008 Web2.0 mantra…

  125. Luke Skywalker

    December 7th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    “The photo is suck.” Something Yoda would say

  126. Alex

    December 7th, 2007 at 6:38 pm

    This post reminds me of Office Space for some reason.

    Samir: “This is a… fuck!”

  127. Facebook Social Ads are a SCAM!

    December 8th, 2007 at 12:11 pm

    I’ve been experiencing a big problem with Facebook’s new Social Ads. In fact, they are clearly scamming people’s money.

    The Ad program is supposed to allow anyone to create an Ad and target by: Location, Gender, Age and relationship status. After this, you can choose how you want pay - per click or impression - followed by a maximum price you want to pay. All good up to this point.

    Now the problem: I set my target location as “Hamilton, ON”, Ages 19-34. My ad should ONLY be appearing in this Network for that demo only. However, my ad is appearing in profiles for “No Networks” and “Calgary, AB” networks.

    These are the two I have tested. If this is the case, its only reasonable to assume my ads are showing up in every other Network on Facebook as well, jacking up my costs and WASTING my impressions and money!

    There is NO contact available on Facebook to deal with this. The best I could find was Corporate Advertising contact, who responded to me, only to say he only deals with $25k clients and could not help.

    Can anyone do something about this? I don’t think most people are aware their ads are NOT being targeted and losing their money with almost every click or impression.

    Help please.

    You can email me at: mike.kassar at gmail . com

  128. fake fake dave mcclure

    December 8th, 2007 at 5:22 pm

    damn, skip TC for a day and I miss all the fun.

    congrats ben… just waiting for that $15B valuation to get your strike price set, eh? ;)

    condolences mike.
    (or congrats on the new pet mole I guess)

    here’s to more FaceCrunch scoops in 2008!

  129. Father Mannix

    December 11th, 2007 at 11:37 pm

    http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/
    Does what happens in the Facebook stay in the Facebook?

    Tales of corporate & government intrigue. Who is really behind Facebook.

    I have absolutely no idea about the veracity of this presentation, but I hate the whole Farcebook thing anyway. Hell, just read their TOS and privacy policy.I find it plausible, just because of all the gov’t/ telcom/ ISP spying cooperation going on anyway.

    Have fun.

  130. Susi

    December 31st, 2007 at 2:25 am

    Can’t we all just start an anti-facebook campaign? Bring the internet back to the traditional means it was used for? Let’s love more on Gmail and stray away from the social networking sites?

    Am I just being biased because I’m using 2Pad? Probably. But it’s a good time to start keeping things private.

  131. Greensboro Wedding Photographers

    January 1st, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    Perhaps working for facebook might be a move “up” for some people. Not saying anything bad about TechCrunch, but you should support people moving up.

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