“Strong opinions weakly held” is a core principle of mine, and while I think I’ve demonstrated strong opinions aplenty on this blog, today it’s time to give credence to the “weakly held” part. Specifically, I have been wrong about Facebook. I’ve been a bear about their long-term prospects, and now I am a bull. My […]
Facebook phones and the future of mobile communication
Frank Meehan, who built integrated communications platforms at INQ Mobile/Three in the mid-2000s: We had a lot of early success…because in 2008/2009 most people just used a handful of key internet communication centric services. Facebook, MSN Messenger, Skype etc dominated. So integrating just those services was such a useful step that people loved what we […]
The Facebook Flop
I’ll admit it: I’m rather enjoying the Facebook Home/First flop. First off, it’s always fun to say “I told you so.” Specifically, pre-launch I questioned Mark Zuckerberg’s assertion that people, not apps were the center of our smartphone experience in Apps, People, and Jobs to be Done: Apps aren’t the center of the world. But […]
What LinkedIn is Good For
Ben Evans is annoyed with LinkedIn: LinkedIn fails to hit absolutely basic product features that should have been in there 5 years ago, both on mobile and desktop. Instead, the core features get buried under successive layers of mediocre non-core products, the latest being a flood of me-too news aggregation that’s creeping through the product […]
Facebook Thinks You Might Like Up to Three Video Ads in Your News Feed Each Day
Delightful headline-writing by The Verge. From the article: Expected to launch in the summer, Facebook’s new video ad units may prove to be a revenue success for the company, but they may also become another nuisance for users. According to AdAge, Facebook is currently in talks with various agencies to secure its first video ad […]
The Facebook First at the AT&T Store
I paid a visit to my local AT&T store1 on the occasion of the Facebook First being officially available for sell. There was more promotion than I expected, including a dedicated installation and a huge promotional banner behind the counter. That said, there wasn’t really any effort by the salespeople to push me on the […]
A Facebook of the Future
A glowing profile of Facebook’s business to date by Kurt Eichenwald:1 The Google concept of demand fulfillment—someone searches for a pink shirt and is shown an ad for a pink shirt—had an important place in Internet marketing, the pitch went. But Facebook was about generating demand by showing users content that they might not have […]
The Vanishing Uninformed and the Facebook Phone
Dan Frommer has a suggestion as to who is going to buy the Facebook phone: Facebook unveiled its long-awaited mobile phone platform today. It is, as assumed, a Facebook “layer” on top of Google Android. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, or even take a detailed look at the presentation. But I […]
The Facebook Home Hands-On
The Verge has a 15-minute hands-on with the Facebook Home. It’s well worth the time. I must say, I’m impressed. The level of care and attention to detail is immediately apparent; it’s far more fluid and “fun” than anything I’ve ever seen from Android. Still skeptical though. Mobile is tough; more soon.
Like Once, Friend Anywhere
Two good pieces on Facebook today. First, this piece from Reuters on the challenge mobile messaging apps present to Facebook: Create personal profiles. Build networks of friends. Share photos, videos and music. That might sound precisely like Facebook, but hundreds of millions of tech-savvy young people have instead turned to a wave of smartphone-based messaging […]