Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain • Hacker News Board

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#11

Post by kennyroo » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:17 PM UTC

brandonkm wrote: post #9

mingdingo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would strongly disagree with this. I used to feel this way about Mark Zuckerberg, but not anymore. Just consider these observations about facebook: 1) When it started, there were already many social networks 2) Because it positioned itself as a social network for college students, it got the early growth and adoption any "social" website needs to survive 3) They've grown REALLY fast since then, and have started to…

> For someone who has consolidated power in a company that could rival Google I think you may be getting ahead of yourself on that one.

Facebook/Google comparisons always strike me as way off base. It's like comparing a Central Park (busy, no money) with Disneyland (busy, big money).

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#12

Post by unalone » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:20 PM UTC

dtap wrote: post #10

unalone wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't judge Zuckerberg by his Facebook blog. The guy is a complete recluse. Yeah, all he writes is apologies, because he can delegate everything else. But try to find some of the leaked letters he wrote people that he tries to suppress for privacy. Reading them you get the image of an extraordinarily focused mind. He's arrogant, but if you can judge people on the confidence of their writing alone the guy is prett…

The guy is a complete recluse. Part of being a great CEO is being a cheerleader. You can't do that being hidden. There are many different types of leadership, some of which Zuckerberg has. Making Facebook into the culture mainstay it is has been a huge accomplishment. I am sure a lot of this is due to him. But he needs to be an effective communicator both internally and externally in order to succeed. He can have awe…

He's the best cheerleader Facebook could have. He gives speeches, but hides personal information. If you're a spokesperson for a company whose number-one selling point is privacy, the best marketing move you can make is to stay hidden. When I was younger I wrote him a friend request and a little message, which he promptly ignored, and my respect for him swelled for that. In a Silicon Valley that's becoming infamous for celebrity and over-the-top drama, he's a breath of fresh air.

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#13

Post by Alex3917 » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:24 PM UTC

jskopek wrote: post #2

Acting as devil's advocate here, there isn't much evidence behind these 'explanations'. It's quite possible that Zuckerberg is loosing his edge, but this article paints him in a way that's damn close to slander.

Sounds plausible given Zuck's talk at startup school.

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#14

Post by mingdingo » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:28 PM UTC

kennyroo wrote: post #11

brandonkm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For someone who has consolidated power in a company that could rival Google I think you may be getting ahead of yourself on that one.

Facebook/Google comparisons always strike me as way off base. It's like comparing a Central Park (busy, no money) with Disneyland (busy, big money).

Central park isn't a business. If it were a for-profit venture, it would be fairly easy to monetize, purely because it's so popular.

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#15

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:28 PM UTC

mingdingo wrote: post #14

kennyroo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook/Google comparisons always strike me as way off base. It's like comparing a Central Park (busy, no money) with Disneyland (busy, big money).

Central park isn't a business. If it were a for-profit venture, it would be fairly easy to monetize, purely because it's so popular.

[deleted]

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#16

Post by unalone » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:30 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #13

jskopek wrote: post #2

Acting as devil's advocate here, there isn't much evidence behind these 'explanations'. It's quite possible that Zuckerberg is loosing his edge, but this article paints him in a way that's damn close to slander.

Sounds plausible given Zuck's talk at startup school.

Is there a video/notes of that talk? What did he talk about?

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#17

Post by tokenadult » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:33 PM UTC

mingdingo wrote: post #7

dtap wrote: post #3

To me, this seems like the start of the decline of facebook. Gideon Yu's work has been stellar with Youtube and getting that $15B valuation. The reason may be the board and not Mark. That being said he doesn't have the it factor I see in a lot of successful CEOs.

I would strongly disagree with this. I used to feel this way about Mark Zuckerberg, but not anymore. Just consider these observations about facebook: 1) When it started, there were already many social networks 2) Because it positioned itself as a social network for college students, it got the early growth and adoption any "social" website needs to survive 3) They've grown REALLY fast since then, and have started to…

It's still trivially easy and often very enticing to bail out of Facebook entirely. I still don't see anything that Facebook is doing that successfully locks in customers, not even in the way that Amazon locks in book-buyers and certainly not in the way that Google becomes most people's default approach to Web search.

Moreover, if every user loses money for Facebook, what's the financial model of the company? Even if I like Facebook, if I'm not providing it with cash flow, when it does it have to bail out of its business?

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#18

Post by Frazzydee » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:41 PM UTC

mingdingo wrote: post #14

kennyroo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook/Google comparisons always strike me as way off base. It's like comparing a Central Park (busy, no money) with Disneyland (busy, big money).

Central park isn't a business. If it were a for-profit venture, it would be fairly easy to monetize, purely because it's so popular.

> it would be fairly easy to monetize, purely because it's so popular.

Why? Popularity as a free service doesn't necessarily imply that said popularity will be retained upon introduction of a monetary fee.

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#19

Post by banned_man » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:41 PM UTC

This, uhh, has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but does anyone know if there's a way (synthetically, perhaps) to short an IPO?

I repeat this has, umm, nothing to do with any particular company. Yeah. Just so you don't try to copy my trading strategy. I repeat: nothing to do with, um, any particular stock. I'm just asking a technical question about shorting IPOs, now or in the future. Yeah...

Re: Dissent Is Dead At Facebook, Employees Complain

#20

Post by plusbryan » Thu, Apr 02, 2009, 9:42 PM UTC

unalone wrote: post #16

Alex3917 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds plausible given Zuck's talk at startup school.

Is there a video/notes of that talk? What did he talk about?

Alex may be referring to Zuck's talk two years ago where he spent 99% of his time on stage telling people in the audience how young people are better hires than 'old' people. It was bizarre to say the least.