And when you look at Marc the capitalist, rather than at Marc the ideas guy, the hero-worship becomes a bit more difficult. I certainly like the way that he’s dragging Silicon Valley into the world of philanthropy, where it’s historically been very weak. But a lot of my own Wired story, last month, can be read as a push back against the IPO culture which Andreessen, almost more than anybody else, has managed to create.
“Silicon Valley is full of venture capitalists who have become dynastically wealthy off the backs of companies that no longer exist,” I wrote in that piece, and Andreessen is Exhibit A if you want to look for such a person. His first company, Netscape, lost the Browser Wars and ended up getting sold to AOL. His second company, Loudcloud, was (to be charitable) too far ahead of its time, so it “pivoted” into something called Opsware; eventually Andreessen managed to sell it off to HP. His third company, Ning, was even less successful, and ended up buried somewhere in Glam Media. None of them exist today in any recognizable form; none of them ever made much money; and none of them even really made it as far as building anything approaching a permanent income stream.
Facebook is wishful thinking. Wishful thinking by:
1. The advertising industry that FB will somehow reverse its rapid demise.
2. Advertisers that some how billions of people who avail themselves of a free online service somehow want to be bombarded with invasive advertisements.
3. Wall Street (what else is new?)
4. Venture capitalists who think the world consists of infinite fools.
5. Facebook management who think its disenchanted users are all happy about what it has become and where it is heading.
They all deserve each other.
#1 Posted by williambanzai7, CJR on Tue 22 May 2012 at 03:15 AM
Facebook is like the backyard fence of the early 20th century and after WWII the telephone to pass gossip and compare whatever suits your fancy with your friends. It may be useful for political points and charity to all once in awhile--as it and Youtube were for the Arab Spring--which is still just a spring. But 95% of the people that use Facebook--myself included--use it for passing information around to family and friends(though most of mine still prefer email for some privacy) which is usually bragging points about kids and their kids' kids. It doesn't improve society as it is or into something better. It's just a service for passing notes.
#2 Posted by trish, CJR on Tue 22 May 2012 at 05:45 PM