Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#2Google's pageviews have more value (because they know exactly what people are looking for), Google IPOed at a valuation of 20% of what Facebook wanted in valuation, and Google is already entrenched into the market that the author is suggesting Facebook is going to have such an easy time moving into.
My money is on Google.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#3I hope he's not actually putting his retirement money on the line here.
It's not about the quality of the ads, which he argues will get better with more data. It's about intent.
When I search on Google, my natural next action is to click a link. That link can be organic or an ad. If it's an ad Google stands to make money.
When I browse Facebook, my natural next action is not to click a link to an outside service/store. It's to continue to read status updates and browse around. Clicking an outside link is unnatural and unpleasant in this context.
This is the same reason ads on other Google properties such as gmail do so poorly - they may know exactly what you're likely to buy and could therefore present you with the perfect ad, but the activity you're engaged in does not naturally lead to clicking on ads.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#4Say I decide to buy a new set of speakers. Do I tweet that I'm looking for speakers? Do I announce on facebook that I'm looking for speakers? Or do I just start googling?
Twitter and Facebook might occasionally be clued in about some of my purchases, but google is in on virtually all of my purchases that are considered while I'm at a computer. They're first past the post and privy to a much higher percentage of what I buy.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#5Facebook has a lot of data about what you say you like, but Google has a lot more data about what you actually like. Hope you really didn't bet your retirement.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#6Betting one's retirement on a single security seems like a bad strategy regardless of how successful it's likely to be. I'm hoping the title is just hyperbole.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#7I've never clicked on the ads in Facebook. I've clicked on more ads while using Google. When I'm looking to buy something, I use Google. As with tworats, I do hope he's not actually planning on retiring with Facebook stock. Privacy laws could easily render the data that we give to Facebook off-limits.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#8I hope he's not actually putting his retirement money on the line here. It's not about the quality of the ads, which he argues will get better with more data. It's about intent. When I search on Google, my natural next action is to click a link. That link can be organic or an ad. If it's an ad Google stands to make money. When I browse Facebook, my natural next action is not to click a link to an outside service/stor…
We've debated this point to death. By your argument, advertising on TV should be a failure, since people watch TV to be entertained, not to buy stuff right away. And still, 99% of TV shows are paid for by commercials. How come?
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#9Sensationalist headline. Bad mistake.
Re: Why I’m betting my retirement on Facebook stock today
#10I hope he's not actually putting his retirement money on the line here. It's not about the quality of the ads, which he argues will get better with more data. It's about intent. When I search on Google, my natural next action is to click a link. That link can be organic or an ad. If it's an ad Google stands to make money. When I browse Facebook, my natural next action is not to click a link to an outside service/stor…
Adsense is a $10b a year segment not based on intent - it's based on advertising you see when you are on random pages on the internet (like the New York Times).
Facebook will know what you want better than Google: they track you across multiple retail sites, see what you are looking at and even get structured data volunteered to them about that stuff.