Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Facebook IPO

Well, there's a certain amount of buzz going on regarding Facebook's big IPO week, and whether or not Mark Zuckerberg is showing the suits on the Street enough respect, turning up with a hoodie and a cocky attitude and all....  A lot of buzz, but maybe not as much as was expected.

I don't know, something about Facebook feels like a house of cards to me, like the Dutch Tulip Craze, when the price of tulips went through the roof in the 17th Century during a period of wild speculation, until somebody with sense stopped and said, "Hey, these are just a bunch of freaking tulips."

The habits of people under the age of 30 may be one thing, but the wise investor may ask him or herself just what people over the age of 30 find Facebook particularly useful for.  Personally, I've found it quite useful in discovering the differences I've developed in political and religious views from some friends that I haven't seen in decades, but I sense a lot of it has to do with the the beauty of FB stalking that allows a lot of people to say with grim satisfaction....



...which can only carry you for so far, but then again, I'm no investment genius.  Who am I to argue with 900 million people?

6 comments:

Garpu said...

New layout? Cool. Does feel a bit like the dotcom bust all over again, doesn't it?

Jeff said...

It does!

I'll stay out of it and probably miss out on getting rich, though. Again.

Yeah, I went with a new layout. Still don't know whether I like it or not yet... It seems easier to read, and I think the white-on-black template was looking a little bit dated for 2012.

shera10 said...

The new layout is very nice, and black and white are the Juventus colors:I cannot longer to bear to see them ;-)

Jeff said...

Oh, Juve finished at the top of the table in Serie A? The "Old Lady" is back in the Champions League and Inter is out? I commiserate with you...

Garpu said...

I mean, what are they buying? People use facebook. Facebook brings in a lot in ad revenue. But...emperor has no clothes there, either, you know? Maybe it's just the ephemeral nature of internet-based companies. I don't know that our economic system really knows what to make of them, yet. (Or can take another dotcom bust.)

Jeff said...

I've never clicked on an internet ad intentionally, but maybe I'm atypical... I've heard that there are a lot of companies now making big bucks out of "master data management," doing analytics on user behavior. How we use sites, when we abandon and why. There will be a lot of pressure on FB now to prove why they are so indispensable.