Cracks in Facebook

Which begs the question, is it real at all?

It's not a $15B valuation.

Microsoft didn't invest all $240 million for the 1.6% stake. Some fraction of that money was for the advertising deal that Microsoft got.

"...I don't think it is terribly relevant to today."

This article is relevant because little has changed (from an outsider's perspective) since May.

Imagine if you were a VC. One of your portfolio companies is deeply behind revenue milestones, user acquisition rates are slowing, the potential sources of big revenue never panned out. And you can't even change the CEO because you don't have board control.

Fast forward from May to now. What has Facebook done? Raise $100mm more, add comments to the newsfeed, start the fbFund competitions, and other things that do not visibly address the revenues problem.

I'm really hoping that Facebook solves the revenue problem before they run out of cash, but at this point I am doubtful.

Facebook's relationship with third-party developers has remained problematic. The last several weeks, especially, have been frustrating for many developers (myself included) who have watched Facebook roll out changes without notice that break apps or make them hard to find. The Rock You comment in the article about "playing a game where the rules are changing all the time" is right on. Facebook's developer program is a case study in how not to manage an API.