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Google beware, Facebook has more positions to fill

Two big names sit atop the social networking heap: MySpace and Facebook. Facebook is set on growing and is adding seasoned executives from very well-known players in the internet world to make its growth happen.

To fund its growth and give it the needed capitol to hire seasoned managers away from giants like Google required significant funds. Part of these funds came from Microsoft in late 2007 when it invested $240 million in Facebook. Estimates put the revenue generated by Facebook at $150 million per year with the majority of that income stemming from online advertising. However, reports claim that Facebook is spending more than it is making at this time.

Facebook doesn’t expect to be in the red for long and it grabbing serious managerial talent like the former Google star Sheryl Sandberg, the executive responsible for managing the $15 billion behemoth that is Google’s online advertising business. Sandberg took the chief operating officer spot with Facebook.

Sandberg’s departure pushed Google’s stock price to its lowest point in a year. Facebook has its sights set on more than managerial talent and has been hiring away some of Google’s best engineers like Benjamin Ling as well.

Google and other internet companies might want to be sure their key employees are happy; Forbes reports that Facebook is on the prowl again looking to fill a few more key positions within the company.  Facebook is looking to hire a new general counsel and a vice president of communications and public policy.

The one spot that isn’t open at Facebook right now is the top spot. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg intends to hold on to the job, though he has admitted in the past the CEO spot was harder than he imagined. The 23-year-old Zuckerberg has by all accounts performed well as the CEO of Facebook taking the company from a startup to a valuation at the time Microsoft bought in of $15 billion.

Whether or not Zuckerberg remains the best man for the CEO position at Facebook remains to be seen. A recent report found that social networking sites like Facebook needed to become more useful to really make money.

History shows that internet companies that start off with the founder as CEO tend to need more experienced leaders as time goes by. Good examples of this are Google, Yahoo and eBay. All three companies saw their founders step down and more seasoned leaders step into the CEO spots. Facebook may find that it needs a new leader if it is to become more useful in the future.

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There is a glaring omission in this article...
By arazok on 4/30/2008 12:41:12 PM , Rating: 2
Where do I send my resume?




Execs looking to make money on Facebook...
By Screwballl on 4/30/2008 1:34:01 PM , Rating: 2
I know exactly how this will play out... some high dollar execs will get signed onto the company... they find a way to make it more profitable (for them).. then they sell it out from under the creators feet for a massive increase in their bank account...
either way Facebook is slowly dying as are most social network sites.




By Dobs on 4/30/2008 8:43:31 PM , Rating: 3
Or they'll merger with MySpace and become MyFace . =]


Facebook isn't useful
By FITCamaro on 4/30/08, Rating: -1
RE: Facebook isn't useful
By MrBlastman on 4/30/08, Rating: -1
RE: Facebook isn't useful
By onwisconsin on 4/30/2008 2:19:34 PM , Rating: 3
I disagree. I'm almost on it everyday. It's been very instrumental in keeping in touch with friends living in other states, especially when you're arranging to see them. Or coordinating events with people you don't see daily. It's a lot easier doing all this especially when you don't have their email or phone number too.

I was a doubter too, but now I'm having a good experience


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By FITCamaro on 4/30/2008 3:28:15 PM , Rating: 2
You could just call these people, email them, or chat with them over IM.

And if my only method of contacting someone was Facebook, that would tell me something. They don't want to talk to me. Just a hint.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By Jedi2155 on 4/30/2008 5:35:29 PM , Rating: 2
Or perhaps you were just too busy and never cared to ask for their email till it was too late....there can be plenty of arguments on either side, but the main thing is that lots of people, that are not necessarily dailytech users, find it useful.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By Reclaimer77 on 4/30/2008 6:00:11 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
You could just call these people, email them, or chat with them over IM.


Or he could use Facebook. Which has a live chat built in by the way.

Splitting hairs much ?


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By hp540 on 4/30/2008 8:53:47 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
You could just call these people, email them, or chat with them over IM


...right.

Or you could use sign language and smoke signals as well? FB provides another great way to keep in touch and up to date with friends.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By MScrip on 5/1/2008 2:18:07 AM , Rating: 2
I do call people. I text people. I send e-mails to people. Those are times I need one-on-one communication with one person. But with Facebook I can speak to a group. I can update my status with "Michael is home from the beach" and all my friends know I'm home from the beach. I didn't have to send a dozen e-mails telling people that. It just happens. Facebook is about passive communication, for times when you wanna share things with a group. Facebook is a community. The news feed is the best part of Facebook. You get to hear from your friends, without them speaking directly to you. I can see what's going on with my friends by simply logging into Facebook. Isn't that what networking is all about?

When I put new photos on Facebook, all my friends are told I have new photos. Does Flickr do that? No. Flickr is a photo website with no connectivity. However, Facebook photos are linked to you and your friends. Isn't that why you put photos online, so people can see them?

Sometimes Facebook is the only way I have to contact a friend. Why? Because it's so damn easy to search for someone and "add" them. Have you ever tried to find someone on the internet? Impossible. But, hundreds of my friends are on Facebook, so it's easy to contact them there.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By ebakke on 5/1/2008 4:57:07 AM , Rating: 2
Your facebook friends don't care when you get home from the beach.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By MScrip on 5/1/2008 2:32:16 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe not all of them, but some people write back and ask me how the beach was. It's a conversation starter. It's those little updates that keep people informed on what's happening with your friends on Facebook. Here is an example of my news feed:

Matthew and Katie commented on Jenny's photo.

Julie wrote on Joshua's Wall. Happy Birthday Josh!!! Hope you have a great day!!!!

Hannah commented on Jack's photo.

Jenny added new photos. In this album: 8 of your friends

Staci and Turner are now friends with Alex.

Cathy wrote on Caty's Wall.

Jenny added new photos. In this album: Jenny and Stephanie

7 of your friends changed their profile pictures.

Eric attended Midnight Breakfast.

Jeff commented on Blane's photo.

Elizabeth added new photos.

Lauren is attending Kat's Graduation.

Tia wrote on Joy's Wall.

I wouldn't know any of that stuff if it wasn't for Facebook. I haven't talked to Jenny since we worked together last summer. But, I see she has new photos and a few of my friends are in them. So I said hi to her. I wouldn't have said anything to her if I hadn't seen her pop into my news feed.

I still have plenty of friends that I phone and text, and tons more who I stay in contact with through Facebook.

If you have no friends, Facebook is pointless. But, while my e-mail inbox is empty, my Facebook News Feed is full of stuff.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By PICBoy on 5/2/2008 9:50:41 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Here is an example of my news feed

This is an example of why I hate facebook so much. It floods you with completely unnecessary "news", do you really need to be reminded any of these things? do you really need an excuse to contact an old friend? do you need to take the useless applications and things like "are you a good husband"? Trust me, if facebook says you are a good husband but your wife thinks otherwise then it really doesn't matter and you just wasted more than 2 minutes of your life wich you will never EVER get back.
Facebook has its uses. But I only wanted to "re-find" someone and she's not there but I guess that's just bad luck.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By MScrip on 5/2/2008 2:30:13 PM , Rating: 2
The news feed is the best part of Facebook! It's the equivalent of sitting outside at a sidewalk cafe and your friends walk by. Even if your friends aren't speaking directly to you, you can still hear them. Like I've said before, I have friends I talk to on a regular basis on the phone or in person. But, Facebook lets me hear from everyone else. Some of it may be unnecessary news... but it's news nonetheless. It's one line of text, it doesn't bother me that bad.
quote:
do you really need to be reminded any of these things? do you really need an excuse to contact an old friend?

Look, if I had the choice of not hearing from old friends ever again, or seeing them pop into my news feed with new photos and stuff, I'll take the news feed.

I don't need an excuse to contact old friends... however, Facebook is the reason I can talk talk to old friends.

I usually just observe the news feed. But once in a while I say hi to someone that I would have no other way to contact.

The best part is seeing photos posted by friends. I haven't seen my friend Amanda since college. Her new baby pictures showed up in my news feed. I said hi and said congratulations to her family. What's wrong with that? How many of your friends upload photos to Flickr, then send a mass e-mail to everyone with a link to the photos? Instead, they upload their pictures to Facebook, and their pictures find you.

The last e-mail address I had for Amanda was back in college in 2002. So, I couldn't e-mail her if I wanted to. And I probably wouldn't have ever sent her an e-mail anyway. But, since she added me as a friend, and she showed up in my news feed, the conversation was started.

We live in such a fast paced world. I don't have time to send e-mails like this: "Dear Amanda, How are you? I am fine. How have you been since college?" I'd just rather get a quick snapshot of my old friends from Facebook.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By ebakke on 5/2/2008 4:11:33 PM , Rating: 2
Do you work for Facebook?


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By MScrip on 5/2/2008 5:15:22 PM , Rating: 2
No. I wish. I just find Facebook to be a fantastic service. Sure, it's got its bad moments... but there isn't another single service that can do what Facebook does. Messaging, photo sharing, quick comments, etc.

Everyone is online, but everyone is scattered. Facebook is one community where your friends are. You could only send emails to people who you have addresses for, post pictures to Flickr then tell each one of your friends to go look, write your own blog and have your friend's blogs bookmarked, and use Twitter for up to the minute updates. Or... you and your friends can use Facebook.

E-mail is useful, but it's the online equivalent of mailing a letter to a person. Flickr is nice, but there's no social aspect to it. I'll stick with an online community that has the biggest population. I sure think it's useful.

Some people say that the Facebook bubble is gonna burst when the next big site comes out. That's fine. But it will be another online community like Facebook. A site where, by simply logging in, you see stuff that's going on with your friends. And it's easy to send message and share media with your friends. It's a one stop shop.

I used to be crazy about AIM. I'd sign on and read everyone's away message to see what they are doing. But times have changed. Now I just sign into Facebook, and get a quick rundown on what's going on with my friends.


RE: Facebook isn't useful
By Reclaimer77 on 4/30/2008 5:47:19 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I think both of them are a great plague to our society and the internet in general.


Are you high ?

I think your just some Joe Shmoe that will NEVER have an idea that ends up being worth 15+ billion dollars.

Sure you have a right to an opinion, but if your going to accuse a simple way of keeping in touch with people as a " great plague on society and the internet " then I'm sorry, you have to at least explain why.

Child porn is a great plague on our society and the internet. Facebook ? Not even close.