What is Digg?132 Comments
- scuba7183, on 10/12/2007, -6/+67Myspace sucks anyway
- cheesy_1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+57I can tell you from experience, on Facebook the signal-to-noise ratio is MUCH better than MySpace. Since you're required to have a university email address, Facebook quickly and easily filters out all that garbage. It has a lot of cool features too.
It may not be as heavily trafficked or have as many users, but the quality of users and their personal information is much better. Rather than having zillions of 14 year old girls, tons of worthless bands, and porn site promoters (and I even received a Nigerian email scam on MySpace the other day) Facebook is almost entirely 17-30 year old university students and alumni.
It's a gold mine for media companies and advertisers. I'm just worried if they do get bought for some huge sum of money the new owners will rape and pillage it for all it's worth and ruin the simplicity and cleanliness that makes Facebook so great. - meepus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+50As a college student with a facebook, I have to say that there's a certain quality to facebook that surpasses that of Myspace (which frankly, I consider the new AOL).
Facebook does not allow users to modify the HTML of their profiles (and it doesn't allow image tags either). This does a whole lot to cut down on the tasteless glitsy (and ugly) crap that people tend to throw all over their profiles (reference Myspace). The search tools, the server reliability, and the privacy options are far superior to those of Myspace.
As well, users (for the most part) are using their real names. If I need to look up someone that I know goes to college, Facebook tends to be more reliable than the yellow pages. Why? Because everybody and their professor has one. If I meet someone at the bar through a friend, and I learn their first name (and remember it...) I can search my friend's friends for that first name and find the person.
Worth $2 billion? The ad revenue (FB sells its own targeted ads) and marketing info alone is worth that to the right company. But I think it's possible Mark Zuckerberg named $2 billion as his price because he knew it was unrealistic. Who'd want to sell such a successful company that already generates significant profit to get rich off of?
This is my first comment here, by the way. Hi digg. - gwax, on 10/12/2007, -2/+42It's not just the Facebook that's being sold, it's the Facebook and all the current Facebook users, which is worth a lot more.
- csimpkins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+32I look forward to the day that I can turn down $750 million.
- jeylux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21goldmine for creditcard companies looking to further indebt more clients at a 28.9% introductory APR!
- jeylux, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25hot college girls are worth thousands each.
but you've gotta take the fatties and the frats with it. - bluephoenix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Are you kidding? A myspace type community where the demographic is specifically college students? Goldmine.
- quasipalm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+162 things:
#1: $2 Billion is a lot more than you realize.
#2: Comparing Facebook with Google is just a little bit crazy. - cheesy_1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I think the biggest reason Facebook is doing well is that it was create BY college students FOR college students. If some big company were to attempt the same thing you would end up with...guess what...MYSPACE!
That combined with the fact that the majority of college students are already members of Facebook, I think it would be very difficult for a company to get users to switch unless they had some insanely cool features.
That said there have been some that have succeeded, personally over the years I've progressed from FaceTheJury to Friendster to MySpace and finally I'm very satisfied with Facebook. However there are plenty of social networking sites which haven't gotten me to be a regular user too. - rodball, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Exactly right, it's *always* the users - well, 99% of the time. Creating a new myspace/slashdot/flickr/whatever is dead easy. You're paying for the user base.
That being said, $2 BILLION!?!? WTF? - pierre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Because this one already has millions of users and a huge amount of traffic. THATS why.
- vfrex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I agree that facebook offers a better experience. The fact that it is (was?) limited to college students alone placed it a large step ahead of myspace. I hope that it continues to provide a similar level of service, whether it is bought out or remains independent.
- jkastan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12this would be HORRIBLE for facebook. viacom would ruin it.
- Kebie, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16Why can't they just spend $10mill + on a good developer to make a better myspace. Then use their own resources to advertise it to teens all over their own media empire. All they need is to convince 100,000+ to signup for free, then it is viral from there. I mean it could cost $100-$200mill when they are done because they will over spend and whatever, but that is also a lot cheaper then $2billion.
- djnick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8facebook is NOTHING like myspace. first of all only people with college emails (edu) can get an account. second of all its not about making lame emo pages and claiming a million friends, its about connecting with ppl in your classes and other schools. As long as college is around facebook will be around too, the guy can easily get 2B for the site if he does it correctly. Myspace is just a fad it will eventually die down in a few years
- cheesy_1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8People are modding this comment down for some reason, but as a user of Facebook, I completely agree. The beautiful thing about Facebook is it's lack of crap (i.e. MySpace). I feel like a large media company purchasing this would want to milk it for all it's worth, which probably means the user's experience suffers...
- Wedge1212, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9its not retarted. its very smart. You are telling people (marketers) what you like and dont like. That information is a gold mine for many companies. Facebook and Myspace putll all that data into a format (database) that a person could mine and harvest that data into valuable information. So the creators of those sites have already done the leg work. All big business has to do is buy them out and take the data people give to them FOR FREE!
- sykotic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10are the people who whine about facebook the ones who don't have to oppertunity to use it? ie: not in college / college not listed on facebook.
- putnam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The userbase at Myspace is a lot less valuable. It's not about traffic, it's about the summed value of each visitor's eyeballs.
- DCstewieG, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8If it's that easy why don't you make one? Lemme know when your offer for $750 mil comes in.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Popular..yes. $2 billion popular? No? Even with the buying frenzy today that is too high. He is about 7 years too late if he expects MArk Cuban type money
- SouthernDigger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7^revmitcz
I am forgiving your ignorance but thought that I would just enlighten you a bit.
1. High school and College students are anything but "not too hot for advertisers". Any and every company is more than curious to find out the purchasing/entertainment activities that this market participates in. Due to the nature of "dorms", "frats/sororities" and other group livings it is near impossible for television/advertising companies to gather rating information for this demographic. To advertise to a group of people that is guaranteed to be in this market niche is GOLD to advertisers! Not to mention this age group is most likely going to be making buying decisions that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives, ie. "Lifetime customer"
2. If you register while in high school and/or college, once you graduate your status goes to "alum". You are still able to sign on and network with all of your friends from school.
3. Lastly, $2 billion is a bit to ask but think about it. You are 21 years old and not really sure what you have on your hands here... all you know is that someone just offered you $750 million for it. Chances are that this company thought that it was a bargain at $750 so they just put an absurd price tag on it to see if they can boost the bids. I will make a bet that they sell for way less than $2 billion but waaay more than $750 million!
Good talk.... - TheCount, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Man, I really need to start taking stabs in the dark at networking sites and hope to be bought up. Soon enough, Kevin and the gang will have their own private islands when Digg finally hit paydirt.
So... who wants to start a company?
On a more serious note, I really do wonder when this acquisition frenzy will fizzle out. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5580mil was a bargain for myspace. A very good and cheap investment by NewsCorp. They can milk this cash cow for at least a few more years.
- jnorris441, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS! (pinky in corner of mouth)
- SirVanderhoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The non-customization angle is a big reason why people like it (yes, I'm a user, former myspace user also). It's clean, simple, and has a surprising amount of features. But what I really don't like is how they're recently opened it up to those with non-.edu addresses. It's for the 'high school' version, which they've had for a while now, but only recently allowed the two facebooks to befriend one another.
Another thing that got to me... if facebook gets sold to some heartless multinational corporation, will I start getting spam at my college email account? I mean, if Virgin suddenly had millions of email addresses of college students organized by likes, dislikes, and location, I'm not sure if they could resist the temptation. - Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Rupert Murdoch, pull out your checkbook
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Investors play a big part in the decision. I bet Mark wanted to settle for 750 mil but maybe the pressure and greed by the investors influenced the decision.
And thedead: where are you getting this 75 mil figure from? Just a speculation? As far as I know, facebook never disclosed their profits to the public - meepus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Facebook recently opened up to high school students, who can themselves now add college students as friends. The way that it started in high schools, since they don't have school email addresses (or do they? I bet a few rich ones may.) is a rep comes to the school, collects email addresses of students (say, at lunch) and sends them invites to register for their high school. Once the high school has registered students, they can invite their fellow students. This is the only loophole that people can use to get into Facebook if they aren't in college, and I have friends who didn't get into universities who are now on Facebook because of old friends that are still in high school.
Of course, it's a bit sad to be 20 years old and be listed as a current student at a high school, but if you're up for looking like a failure in public I suppose it's not so big of a deal. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5So some guerilla marketing at campuses is now worth $2 Billion? College Pro Painter must be worth $5 Billion!
- jmholloway, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4All I can say about that title is holy smolies.
What do you *do* with 2 billion dollars? - nhansen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Facebook is a sitting goldmine for media marketers...remember EBay's take over of Skype? That wasn't so EBay could help make a better voip service...Anyone who buys facebook (or any other type of company with millions of registered users) is buying the database of names and information that comes with it...for one reason: MARKETING
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Except every year you'll see new college kids who will be like "OMG COOLERZ!" when the current ones have moved on. I don't think this thing will go away like previous "phases" you're referring to.
- existent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The importance and value isn't the quality of the software, it's the value and quality of the USERS. It's not too difficult to produce good social software, a decent group of CS students could do it, but it IS difficult to become one of the most popular social software sites on the net. A large part of that depends on the equivalent to winning the marketing lottery -- word of mouth and pop culture endorsement.
- pyrox420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I could name a few things... most start with "Tasha" and "Vicki".
Or buy me and my friends one of these: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=14 - amalik49, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I agree. And that should terrify EVERYONE. Does anyone else notice that everything about this Web 2.0 market is predicated on online advertising continuing to grow gangbusters like it has for the past few years?
Numbers like this for a company that lists its most important asset as eyeballs/page views/unique users is a scary thought. Where is the monetization? Welcome to the beginning of the end of Web 2.0. We hardly knew ye.
Note to Viacom or whoever else the prospective/ rumored/ non-existent buyer is:If you're paying for names and addresses, why not buy Friendster for the $20MM that it's rumored to be on the block for? - rodbibeau, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6first of all...the story rocks and fb will get its 2 billion dollars.
heres why people hate facebook:
- They are jealous of people their age being smarter and creating somethng like facebook
- They dont have a college email and cant get it! they hate it simply because they cant get in.
Get a life, goto school. stop bitching about others who are more succcessful like mark. - ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I dont know about you but i look forward to the day I can spend $750 Million
- eXCeSS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Thats nuts.
But I doubt the kid who invented facebook is making any stupid decisions. - thedead, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5not if your making already 75 mil a year of the site
- slantyeyed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4myspace and facebook are today what aol member pages were back when people thought aol was the internet
- TheFoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@djnick: That's not entirely true. High school people can get accounts with any email address.
- randyzaia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3MySpace's traffic has tripled since they sold.
- tuxidomasx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3u gotta hand it to them tho-- they started with a quality idea and built a quality site. this just shows that there is a lot of room out there for more innovative ideas. just find something that sucks (myspace) and make something much much better (facebook). Or at least something to compete against it. Then watch the money roll in.
wont someone start a new craigslist w/ a prettier design? it cant hurt. and it prolly wouldnt take you more than a month or so. work on it on the weekends. maybe it'll take off, and maybe it wont, but its better than going to the club every saturday, wasting time, and spending $70 on drinks and admission.
i say good for them facebook guys. if they want their $2 billion bad enough, i'm sure someone is willing to give it to them. facebook is only getting bigger-- on top of the regular college connections, its also becomming a place for alumni to keep in touch with the people they went to college with.
the idea is bulletproof. someone better buy it now when its $2 billion. cuz the price will just get higher. - dailyclerk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I agree. Once either the popularity drops or someone gets sued because of facebook their value will drop dramatically. It could make for a great VH1 show...The biggest oops of the Web 2.0 or The Dumbest Deals in Web 2.0. I beleive Friendster would fall into this category when they scoffed at selling. Now they are struggling to stay online.
- arnaudh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Idiots. It is rumored that Yahoo! paid $25 per user for Flickr, yet to this day they're not making any money off it - in fact, they are losing money.
Asking for 2 billion is absolutely ridiculous. Sounds like those guys haven't learned anything about the Bubble. Wait, they were in high school - no wonder. Those guys need a reality check. They're about to feel as sorry as the Friendster idiots who turned down Google's offer. - kevinrosesmom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Facebook is too damn useful to be a phase. MySpace is a phase, I'm sure of that, but I can't tell you how many times facebook has saved me when I needed to get in touch with someone (for classes, for social reasons, etc.). It (or at the very least something like it, though with such an entrenched user base I rate that highly unlikely) going to be around for a long time.
- KenLin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The glory days of dot-bomb is here again. Here is something for your reference. Yahoo! purchased Overture in 2003 for $1 billion dollars. Overture is all about generating ad revenue and supplied search marketing ads to the huge portals like Yahoo, MSN, AOL, ESPN, etc. That was $1 billion.
How much ad revenue can a social site pull in to justify $2 billion evaluation? How saturated is it in its marketplace? There is a finite # of college students after all (alumni does not generate that much of FB's traffic). Lastly, how likely is another upstart to take place of Facebook? Putting these factors together means that we will be reading about Facebook in the "dumbest decisions companies have made" special section in Businessweek in a few years. - joechapada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2the part where it mentions that myspace was ranked above Google and Msn in page views is awfully wrong. It's ranked eight place and never had even half of google's daily page views. In fact, Google is now in 2nd place, just after Yahoo.
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