It is one thing to see silly fanboys orgasming over each other about their latest social network for unemployed 24-year old coders in the 415 area code, but when one sees someone who has a pretty impressive resume become a fanboy, it’s even sadder.
Dave McClure is, or rather was, a smart guy. He was Director of Marketing at PayPal’s Developer Network amongst other things. Heck, he even went to Johns Hopkins. These days, he’s got a new job: being advisor to many Web 2.0 startups and shilling Facebook (70% of his current front page posts are on F-book) in the hope that Mark Zuckerberg might toss him a basis point or so of the company (for you geeks who don’t understand finance, a basis point = 0.01%, e.g. when the interest rate basis points go up by 100 points, you will no longer be able to afford that $1.5 million house you just bought in San Mateo).
First of all, Dave’s English writing abilities are poorer than those of one of our Romanian engineers whom I communicate with via email. Laurentiu does not type like he’s a 12-year-old girl texting. Dave McClure does. I suppose the money spent on Johns Hopkins was a waste. Here’s a classic line from Dave (please note that this is a full sentence, I haven’t spliced this to make him sound any dumber than he really is):
love ya brother, but yer throwin’ the baby out with the bathwater.
Now Dave, I want you to drive over to Oakland at 2 A.M. and I want you to talk like that. If you return alive, I’ll give you a 10 dollar bill. It sounds like Dave spent a little bit too much time on UrbanDictionary.com in a desperate attempt to sound cool. Lest we all forget, Mark Zuckerbeg is a true genius. With the launch of F8 and the platform, every Web 2.0 fanboy is barely able to keep his hands out of his pants.
Now here is why you’re a total idiot and sycophantic fool Dave:
1. Facebook is not the next Google. We use Facebook for social interactions, to keep up with people, and to flirt, poke, and stalk. We do not use Facebook to buy stuff. Virtual goods may work but real goods simply don’t. Facebook lets me share information but that’s the wrong kind of marketing for selling things. It’s shilling. It’s no better than PayPerPost.
2. Facebook’s Developer Platform is NOT the New Visual Basic. Sure Visual Basic was a big leap forward, and F8 may be a big leap forward (for giving fanboys something to talk about), but comparing the two is like comparing a Rolls Royce to a golf cart. A Rolls Royce (Visual Basic) can get you places - it can make you money. A golf cart (Facebook) makes you feel like “wow, I’m going places” until you can’t go uphill, realize you can’t cross a real road, and find yourself stuck in the confines of a pretentious country club. You can’t make money on Facebook.
3. Widgetizing != Monetizing. Seriously Dave, you need to stop doing drugs. McClure boldly proclaims that we don’t need advertising anymore since, “it’s about engaging users via application workflow, and discovering intent. then you don’t have to advertise anymore, you just serve up the stuff that users find interesting.” How do you make money on that? You don’t. The moment apps become crowded with advertising, someone will launch the same app without it to gain users. Users will switch if the advertising is intrusive, which it will be very hard for it not to be given that the profile itself can’t have advertising and to get people to go to your app profile page is no small task. The percentage of widget installs that lead to profile views will be tiny and the percentage of profile views that lead to revenue generation will be even smaller. The only real use of a widget is branding which doesn’t help if you’re a worthless Web 2.0 company with nothing to sell.
4. Newsfeeds aren’t all that. Comparing advertising/promotion on Newsfeeds to in-search advertising is insane. When people see a newsfeed, they’re looking for new photos that their friends have added, funny videos shared, etc. They’re not looking for advertising. Imagine if you were at a friend’s house catching up, and suddenly, someone from Axe showed up and handed you some body spray and said, “Hey you smelly geek, put this on and you might get laid!” That’s what Newsfeed does. You wouldn’t pay attention. Now let’s flip that around and say you’re at the drugstore looking for bodyspray and you see a promotional stand for Axe that says the same thing. You might try it out because you already had intent to BUY something. That’s the difference. When you search something, you might actually want to pay. When you’re on Facebook, you’re trying to figure out how to (a) keep up with friends, (b) find someone cute to hook-up with, (c) figure out a party to go to on Friday night.
Additionally, Dave might want to realize that “page views” is plural. It’s a shame all that money at Johns Hopkins went to naught. You still turned out to be illiterate. Finally Dave, you might also want to get laid/watch more porn to realize that if one is to contract an STD, it would occur prior to the money shot. Drugs are bad for you Dave.
Thank goodness this post is done. I might have a seizure if I have to look at something as ugly as Dave McClure’s blog ever again.
wow, i love this shit.
you’re ripping me over grammer [sic]?
did i mention i grew up in a trailer park in west virginia, and am fer shur the most serious white trash geek you’ve ever had the good fortune to lay eyes on?
seriously, let me pull out my Scrabble dictionary so i can pwn your ass & wipe the floor with your ridiculous assault on my literary skills.
puh-leez. gauntlet thrown / have at thee? i can whip you in any literary challenge you want, left brain tied behind my back.
this is gonna be good
- dmc
and btw for the record:
* your point #1 has merit, re: purchase intent on Google vs social intent on Facebook; i don’t disagree on that point. however, the impact of the social graph has a multiplier effect you don’t get from an individual doing search. 10 browsers ~= 1 buyer.
* point #2: nope, you’re wrong. it’s a good analogy, and i’ve been geeking around the valley long enough to know so. furthermore, you are obviously not a programmer if you’re comparing VB to a Rolls Royce.
* points #3 & #4: i get where you’re coming from, but you’re mistakenly asserting that targeted advertising is annoying… but it isn’t. this is proven by 1) all the ESPN, SciFi, and Adult Swim commercials i watch on cable that i actually enjoy the hell out of, and 2) by Google prioritizing Adword ads with higher CTRs as an indicator of user engagement. the guy who’s looking to get laid might not be interested in ads for Axe, but he may be interested in ads for Trojans.
finally re: News Feed, you’re clearly just looking for an argument if you won’t acknowledge that this was a major innovation & breakthrough by FB. it’s good shit, and i’m not the only one saying so. i’ve spoken to folks at Google who admit it’s worth looking into. MySpace, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Bebo, Yahoo, and Hi5 are all busting their ass to copy it asap.
in summary: you make some good observations, but that still doesn’t mean my analysis or enthusiasm for FB is misplaced. primarily, i acknowledge your assertion that user intent on a search property is much closer to purchase behavior than user intent on a SNS property, and therefore more valuable. point taken. i would respond that the viral opportunities via the social graph in FB act as a multiplier to the less purchase-focused native behavior.
peace out,
- dmc
Dear Dave,
Talk is cheap son. I appreciate you responding in person though and engaging me in debate. I do sincerely respect that.
As to your rebuttal:
1. I guess what will matter here is whether or not you’re an order of magnitude off. If you are, the equation becomes weak and Facebook just has a high valuation, not a stratospheric one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an amazing site, but I wouldn’t venture to call it an “amazing business” yet.
2. I’m not a programmer. That should be obvious from my posts. My analogy may be wrong but you still don’t address why one can actually make money on Facebook.
3. NewsFeed is cool. I’ll give you that. The fact that it takes everyone else so long to copy them is a testament to the fact
(a) Facebook has top-notch engineering talent [think Google 2 years ago]
(b) Other social networks have pretty poor social talent [think most engineers actually like to solve real problems and not work at some dumb Web 2.0 startup that’s a social network for dogs with acne]
I do think social networks present some interesting marketing and targeting technologies that haven’t yet been taken care of, but I also think that because of the very nature of how social networks have spread and that a promotion could “potentially” spread, that very virality (I know, it’s a neologism) is what could lead to the whole thing backfiring. NewsFeed caught a lot of negative reactions from Facebook users. By and large, people are okay with it, but most people I know keep their privacy to a minimum. I know that most users are not like most people I know so they leave the default settings.
That being said, Facebook can only run one newsfeed promotion at a time and in profile advertising won’t monetize.
If Facebook was smart, they’d do something else, but they don’t have the balls for it and I’m not the one to suggest the idea if they don’t already have it.
You forgot to mention my buddy Dave’s ability to create web content that’s not standardizes for the color blind!
His red text makes it hard for me to read from my planet on mars.
I’m watching this little spat with great interest, funny stuff.
[…] may not be able to read all his points as sometimes he uses different color fonts in his writing. Tech Dumpster wars on Dave and Dave responds to the challenge. Pull up a chair, this will be […]
You know, TechDumpster, the concept is good — sling some dung, make some noise, whatever. But do you really think it’s wise to try to substantively engage with your targets? The ad hominems are funny, but your thoughts are puerile. I know it works for Bill O’Reilly, but that’s because he’s on TV and his audience isn’t fond of critical thinking. Stick to the silly insults, man, that’s all you have going for you.
@ Observer
Why isn’t it wise? This isn’t a blog just about being obnoxious. We already have ValleyWag for that. I’d suggest you look up adjectives in a dictionary prior to using them because I’m struggling to understand why my thoughts are childish?
Do children talk about click-through rates? Do immature people talk use logic? If they do, that’s awesome!
Either way, we’ll continue to use logic. I think you’re just worried that the fanboys have logic against them and we’re winning the battle. Go home and cry to mommy.
I’m glad someone’s calling dave out for jizzing on himself about facebook. In a few years, either dave will be saying “I told you all so” or he will be trying to remove his old facebook blog posts from the internet somehow.
Hey, I can understand your somewhat reactionary anti-fanboy stance. However, I’m a developer, and you’re just wrong on all counts. I’ve seen all the things that you say don’t exist. End of story.
By the way:
First of all, Dave’s English writing abilities are poorer than those of one of our Romanian engineers who I communicate with via email.
I think you meant to use “whom”.
@ Phil
Thanks for the note. Can you elaborate on how you’re making money on Facebook? Can you explain explain why Newsfeeds are all that? I’d love to hear your thoughts and get some data.
[…] with formerly intelligent folks like Dave McClure, Web 2.0 has a magical ability to make people forget logical reasoning skills. Today, we discover […]
@ Phil
We just checked your site and your apps don’t have that many installs. It sounds like you’re full of crap.
[…] that Facebook is okay since it’s got an API. Tons of stupid A-list, B-list, and F-list (see Dave McClure) bloggers have given Zuckerberg and Thiel a virtual sexual favor but it’s time for the […]
Niven
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