Facebook in sweet decline. By Mark Morford

[madokie]

Is it time? Are we about done with the hype and the bluster, the over-amped, OMG-what-has-happened-to-the-world amphetamine breathlessness? Can we get on with it, already?

Did you hear? Facebook went public and nobody cared. Check that: Facebook went public alongside the most dizzying howl of orgasmic hype and "biggest-IPO-ever" mania imaginable and very quickly slumped, thudded, flopped around like an awkward fish in an insufferable hoodie.

It then proceeded to quickly lose more in value than anyone thought imaginable and has barely recovered, has left everyone from Wall Street vampire squid to preternaturally jaded tech journalists with a strange but familiar taste in their mouths, a taste like stale asparagus, like a watery gin cocktail, like a big, sloppy dose of... what is that again? Oh right: Schadenfreude.

Have you noticed? For those who pay attention to such things, who note the heft and timbre of the times, it's a feeling that something just gave way, very similar to when a stale love relationship turns a fatal corner, when you wake up and look over at your partner and go, "You know what? I still love you and all, but the hot spark we once had is sort of... gone." ...

(Full URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/06/13/notes061312.DTL&nl=fix)

[liberal N proud]

1. I for one will not miss facebook

I remember my grandmother listening in on party phone lines catching any gossip she could. And now people post it all on-line so the world can see.

Be gone already!

[Fawke Em]

2. Facebook, the PRODUCT, isn't going anywhere.

Facebook, the stock, failed.

People are still very much using Facebook. The problem, of course, is that the people who use Facebook - us proletariat types - don't have any money to invest in FB stock - or anything else, for that matter, thanks to the elite who thought FB would be valuable stock.

[KurtNYC]

9. We aren't FaceBook's customers -- WE are the product

If FaceBook was Colonel Sanders we would be the chickens. The customer is advertisers and what is declining is the value of ads on FaceBook (and on every other ad supported entity)and THAT is FaceBook's product. Facebook has no where near the user base it claims and as the OP points out the good feeling that FaceBook used to deliver to users took a giant hit with the over-hyped IPO.

They thought they were doing a Krispy Kreme IPO but now they are looking more like AOL after AOL bought Time Warner.

The (common in internet ventures) 7-year honeymoon ended a year ago for FB.

[Bake]

13. Exactly. What FB is selling is access to US, to advertisers.

Zuckerberg believed his own hype as far as the IPO. But he doesn't care; hell, he's a brazilionaire now. Mission accomplished.

Let the Wall Street vampire squids (love that term!) take the hit. Serves their sorry asses right.

Bake

[MattSh]

21. Why the hell are people saying Facebook, the stock, failed?

Well, I know why Wall Street is saying it.

What, 30 or so years ago, when a company went public, the IPO was priced so that the company could raise the most amount of money to finance the future expansion of the company, with Wall Street getting a few percent for it's work.

But especially over the last 10 years, Wall Street has manipulated the IPO process so that 50% or so of the money raised would go to Wall Street.

So now Zuckerburg turns the table on Wall Street, raises a ton of money for his company, and leaves Wall Street holding the bag and wailing and gnashing their teeth about how some young punk took them to the cleaners.

Well boo fucking hoo to Wall Street, I say.

[FrodosPet]

36. Should we go back to texting our friends when we have a silly joke or thought?

Not that I am completely against that, but almost all my peeps are on FB, and we communicate silly little tidbits and throwaways.

Any alternatives that provide similar functionality but are better? And PLEASE don't say Google+ or talking on the phone. I talk on the phone to rude, obnoxious, impatient people for a living (which, for the sake of my nerves and ultimately health HAS to change soon) - I like spending my time off with a phone NOT ringing.

[liberal N proud]

57. At least with texting your employer isn't going to dig up everything you ever put on line.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Yup

[LiberalEsto]

4. I almost never use it

I can't believe the inane stuff some of my friends and acquaintances insist on sharing on a daily basis.
Why would they think anyone cares about the latest pig they bought on Farmville? I've blocked as much of the nonsense as I can, and it still comes up, boring as hell.
Yes, it did help me find classmates going as far back as elementary school, but otherwise Facebook is utterly useless.

[LibDemAlways]

19. You and I must share some "friends" in common.

One guy sits around all day reposting cartoons and pics from other blogs. A cousin posts pics of what she orders in restaurants. Do I give a shit that she found the bacon and eggs "yummy"? I signed up sort of hoping it was a way of reconnecting with people I don't see much. Now I remember why.

[Voice for Peace]

20. I post pics and cartoons from DU, links to articles

I like facebook a lot, actually -- keeping friends list
to people I actually know, posting what I think has
value.

DU is such a great source for actual news and intelligent
analyses and funny stories and great cartoons and
video clips they don't see elsewhere. So I "share"
on FB and they "like."

[proud2BlibKansan]

29. I find myself spending more time on Facebook than on DU

The deadline for filing for office here in my state was Monday at noon. I've met candidates, read platforms and decided who to give money to based on what I've read on Facebook this week. So I'm getting more useful info there than here.

Still love what I find here but the hate here is growing. That's disappointing.

[Voice for Peace]

39. great point, it's true for me too

particularly getting information about local politics &
nonprofits, and meeting new people on that account.
I actually really like facebook. & I think "share" and
"like" is good for people to do all day, even when it's inane.

[LibDemAlways]

52. I'm not criticizing sharing informative or funny stories

or pics every so often. What grates are people who feel the need to compulsively post everything they see or do. Too much information - not enough substance.

[Voice for Peace]

56. I know what you mean

and I pity them, and then I unsubscribe from seeing their posts,
and then I forget they even exist.

[FrodosPet]

40. If WE don't like it, how can ANYONE?

Jeez Louise, why is there always so much elitism about those people who enjoy simpler tastes and a simpler life? I have people I care very deeply about posting silly, trivial things - and I read most of them except for the game updates. Those, you can block out.

People who "Don't Watch Television!" and are quick to point that out tends to be another group of people that the rest of us lowlifes want to avoid.

[LibDemAlways]

51. How is not particularly caring what someone ordered at a restaurant

being an elitist?

I haven't seen this particular woman in many years. I had hoped that by connecting on Facebook we could get to know each other. I have no desire to know what she or anyone else orders in a restaurant and I would think that anyone who cared what I ordered ought to seriously get a life.

It's fine to post trivial/humorous stuff once in a while, but a steady stream of it is ridiculous. I certainly have no problem with you having a different opinion.

[frylock]

54. yeh, i don't get it either..

if you don't like it, then don't use. but if you're going to throw insults at those of us that do use it, then you can piss off.

[A Simple Game]

26. I heard on the radio yesterday that the company that owns Farmville

has lost much of it's stock value. Don't remember the name of the company or care to remember it. But that the company was worth much less now than it was before facebook went public.

Don't use or ever plan to use facebook.

[Voice for Peace]

41. I think the social networking aspect as it's being used is a phenomenal thing

and may be one of the only things that can save the country.

One one side are the behemoths of money & greed, on the other,
a zillion little ants on social networks, organizing, educating,
connecting ideas among millions of (especially) young people.

I know FB gets used for all kinds of stupid stuff, but nevertheless
I like it.

[jannyk]

53. Zynga. We were there yesterday for lunch.

As my daughter is catering manager. I read that article and it said Zynga is the biggest source of income for FB - I was very surprised indeed.

[JHB]

5. As predictable as a full moon. n/t

[daaron]

6. I ditched FB a couple years ago.

Hadn't looked back, either, until I moved away from my family - most of who use it. Tried to get another account, but the second time I logged in they wanted my cell number to validate my account. Since I don't have a cell phone and am not giving grandma's number to FB, I declined, and called my family up to give them my Diaspora* account instead.

Now I've got my family on Diaspora* -- and will never need Facebook, again.

http://diasp.org

[Blue_Tires]

7. I'll stick with FB for the foreseeable future

I'm too busy/tired/lazy to keep making this continual jump to where all the people are just to keep up with friends/meet women...

[daaron]

18. K - ur loss... Social networks are -->

pretty dull anyway, IMHO, and I've never met anyone online, let alone 'women', whatever that means. There are no girls on the Internet. It's Rule #16, as everyone is supposed to know.

Simply put, Facebook is a corporate spy machine - use at your own risk. The very idea that social media is fueling a global revolution, as some in Occupy have suggested after Egypt/Tunisia and the London riots, is not just laughable: it's ludicrous.

Twitter is, if anything, worse. Not only is 150 characters too few, but now it's perfectly defensible to write like a 6-year-old and hold public office. Excuse me for saying so, but fuck that. It might hold for a short while, but like hoola-hoops and TeeVee, Facebook is a fad, and fads have lifespans - sometimes long, sometimes short.

Facebook may have a bigger growth curve, but my prediction is that it ends up looking a lot like MySpace's curve: a big fat bell. I predicted the tanking of the IPO, too. In fact I told my parents that if they had any money to invest, they should buy and try to short sell - they didn't and I didn't, but we coulda made a killing, just like Goldman & JP did.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. I have a whole network of friends I've met right here on DU

We found each other here, discovered we live in the same area and we started having meetups. Many of those DUers are now some of my dearest friends.

[daaron]

45. I'd be willing to meet a fellow DUer in meatspace.

I'd even be willing to meet one on Facebook, if I had a FB account. But you and I would never meet on Facebook. Organizers who refuse to use any other social network to reach people are missing the rest of us, and alienating us by defending some sort of special role for FB in the social networking 'revolution'. In Egypt, it was Twitter, not FB, which provided communications. In London, it was Blackberry PMing. Anons use IRC. Facebook doesn't deserve special respect, and in my opinion, any respect.

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. Who said anything about not using any other networks?

Not me. I'm a twitter maniac

[Mojorabbit]

62. I have met lots of people on facebook

.. we have a small community offline where we actually have events and meet here and there in town. I have met a ton of people through other people that I probably would never have known existed if not for facebook. I don't post much there on my wall of my everyday life but the back line messaging is totally lit up.

[daaron]

66. Great! People are meeting people!

What's more important than that, right? Biggest issue facing our times, is not enough people meeting people and gabbing when they could be reading a textbook or working in the garden or volunteering at a shelter or ...

But hey, people are meeting people. And some of those people who meet each other fuck and get knocked up and make more people to meet people, and after all, what's more important than that, right?

[Mojorabbit]

70. We are gardening

one of the groups of people I met are a permaculture group here in town, I found a food coop with wonderful people, and that is just a few.

[daaron]

71. And if Facebook users weren't so uninformed about choices -->

that same activity could have been organized online using an open-source social network, instead. Why the rush to defend Facebook? Could it be that FB users are defensive, and their only repeated excuse is that they're "too lazy" to switch? "Too lazy" to learn? Too apathetic to care that it's seen as absurd hypocrisy to organize an anti-corporate Occupy demonstration on a corporate website like FB?

[Shampoobra]

64. Thanks for the link

I've been wanting to try social networking but I despise Facebook. I hadn't heard of Diaspora until now.

[daaron]

65. No prob.

BTW, there's lots of Diaspora* 'pods', not just diasp.org (independently operated pods replace central corporate data nexus). You can check out http://poddery.com, too, and there's lists online (check out http://podupti.me). All the public pods are interconnected, so you can still share with anyone on any other public pod. You own your data, which is stored encrypted (unlike FB, which keeps copyrights for promo via TOS, meaning you don't own your own data outright). Eventually, we'll be able to move our 'seeds' (accounts & data) from pod to pod.

[LanternWaste]

67. The aggressive rush to either defend FB or rant against it is almost as amusing as a Spy Vs. Spy com

Some people like books, others magazines-- yet both still reading material. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

The aggressive rush to either defend FB or rant against it is almost as amusing as a Spy Vs. Spy comic strip.

[daaron]

68. It IS like Spy VS Spy, when it's White Hat VS Black Hat infosec.

Once one learns how to program one's computer, and not just play with it like a toy, whole new worlds of fun open up for the curious-minded. Personally, I grock seven or eight coding lingos, which allows me to write pretty much any type of program, web or desktop, that I feel like for fun or profit. Learning one thing leads to learning another, and along the way, one is going to learn how the system software is put together under the hood. This software, that you, the reader, are using, now.

There are those who love to hack this software - including, if they can, the software on your computer. In some cases, a little knowledge goes a long way. In other cases, a lot of knowledge and a state-funded team go even further. There are others who like to try to stop the hackers, and yeah, a gray area between, with lots of defections, double agents, the works. Throw encryption into the spy war going on 24/7 around the world, and you drag two things along: each nations 'best' mathematicians, and the DoD. Encryption is a national security issue, and the patents are restricted for export under the same classification as missile guidance systems.

So Facebook User VS Black Hat is not really like 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other. It's more like Tools VS Spies. NSA VS Black Hat is Spy VS Spy, but I wouldn't want to be the Black Hat in their sights. They hoard all the cool math.

[secondwind]

8. I have 2 FB accounts, one for personal use, check on the kids, grandkids, etc. the other

one is strictly for political use. My real name is on both.

[malaise]

10. I never signed up

I have never had a fatal attraction to great ideas from a bunch of dysfunctional yuppies.
When everyone is rushing towards the fire hubby and I have a way of stepping back and observing.

[daaron]

46. Exactly. And the FB boosters wouldn't even miss you.

Too busy snapping back and forth at each other to hear the quiet voice of reason.

Well, I hear ya. Ironically, enough.

[malaise]

58. LOL

[djean111]

11. I deleted my facebook account last year

because it kind of creeped me out - all the personal stuff online and then the photo-tagging crap. I tried to open a new account using a name that only my family would know, but was declined.
Evidently because the name on my home phone or Google account didn't match or something like that.
I understand them wanting demographic info to use in order to sell advertising - but there is no reason that they need my name.
Same thing with Google+
Now I am having fun with Pinterest - and if I want I can give out links to a blog or business site, but no need for personal stuff.
My family can still email and call me or even visit!
The company that really should have taken the money and run, IMO, is groupon. They were offered quite a lot, declined, and now there are imitators popping up like mushrooms. I understand they might go into a medical or dental niche, though, which sounds useful.

[intheflow]

12. Had nothing to do with your phone.

My phone number isn't under my name, and fb didn't have a problem with me signing up. Probably not about your google account, either, since google hasn't swallowed fb up yet. the reason my second account was decline was because I used the same email address - that's what seems to be the kicker.

[Bake]

14. If the stock goes down far enough, Google or Microsoft will buy it.

And that will be the next big Wall Street buzz/hype.

Nothing changes.

Bake

[djean111]

16. I deliberately opened a new email address on Google just for that reason -

but I think they have access to my Google account name.
I suppose I could open a hotmail account or something but FB is not worth the time or trouble.
A friend of mine has a FB account under her dog's name - evidently you could do stuff like that before FB got so nosy.

[OriginalGeek]

59. lol, my wife had 5 or 6 at one time

all for playing the dumb games while keeping her "real" account free from all that crap. One was named for the dog. She's lost interest in most of it now though.

[2ndAmForComputers]

15. It's baffling that some people try to convince us it's still 1998.

Come ON.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Facebook is one of the best networking tools available

A great example - a group of women here in Kansas decided we needed to have a march to protest against the numerous anti-abortion laws passed this year in Topeka. So someone started a group on Facebook, a march was organized and over 400 people showed up. (In Kansas, that's a great number.)

That group is still active. Every day someone posts a good read. Friendships have formed. Networking in ongoing and so far, I have seen 3 women in that group sign up to run for office this fall.

So you can make fun of Facebook and criticize it if you want, but it's proven its value in the political arena.

[daaron]

22. Because marching has worked so well.

How has Facebook helped reorganize and revitalize the Democratic Party? How has it made us more effective at putting progressives in office, instead of milquetoast Baby-Boomer Blue Dogs and moderates? I heard this same argument during the height of the Occupy movement, but all Facebook seems to do, politically, as an outside observer, is to make FB users THINK they're doing something big, when really they're just Farmville hamsters spinning a corporate wheel.

Examples and anecdotes are just stories - they don't generalize well. Examples of using Facebook to organize are heuristic - we observe them because we want to - but word of mouth and face-to-face contact have been shown to be social fires that burn just as fast, but all the hotter.

So Facebook's boosters are welcome to lead the cheer for our Corporate Spy Masters, and transmit their data to the nearest HSD Fusion Center by the most direct means currently available.

Or they can take 2 seconds to join some OTHER social network, one that is open-source, privacy-oriented, and encrypted, and quit telling me to buy bottled water, when there's pure mountain springs popping up all over. I have to say, as a programmer and developer, the real geeks of the world are laughing at you. We are. We all, universally, think Facebook is stoopud, and FB users are a bunch of noobs; we use it grudgingly, when we use it at all.

Don't worry all you noobs. You'll catch up in a few years. See ya at the cool kids' table, then, yo.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. So you missed the part about candidates?

That was my entire point.

[daaron]

27. Nope, but I think you missed the part about heuristic effects.

Which was my entire point, regarding anecdotal evidence on the Internet.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. You can criticize marches if you want.

But that was the motivation these candidates needed. Seeing that many people show up told them they had support for their campaigns. And if the goal is reforming our corrupt state government, I'll march every day.

[daaron]

38. Well, it does change the subject to the off-handed side-comment -->

rather than Facebook, which is what I really want to criticize. But I did write it, which was sort of baiting, so I guess I ought to address it. In your town, in your state, maybe it's just what's needed. Maybe it will work to build momentum, activate people to think politically and get involved more. Then that's great!

My point is that marching doesn't auto-magically work. Progs were out in force in Wisconsin, but translating that to putting progressive politicos with spine in office hasn't materialized. Even once we manage to get some progressive County Managers and Sheriffs in office, and Municipal Judges on the bench, what is the Democratic Party going to do to support their re-election during the backlash? What are we going to do if the people who want to run from the Left turn out to be the milquetoast floating to the top, instead of the progressive cream we were hoping for? March, again? Or are 'we' going to go back to Farmville?

[MattSh]

30. So...

This OTHER social network, the one that is open-source, privacy-oriented, and encrypted. Just what have you accomplished there?

[daaron]

43. What have *I* accomplished there?

Nothing! The same thing that Facebook users have "accomplished" on Facebook. Yes, activists have translated online organizing into real crowds of people, but it's the real crowds of people that accomplish things in the real world, not on Facebook. Nothing is accomplished - it's all flushed down the memory hole to the the nearest HSD Fusion Center. There is no paper trail. And there are a lot of nerdy people standing to one side shaking their heads, faces planted firmly in palms.

Regarding open-source, privacy-oriented, encrypted alternatives and their role in, for instance, the Egyptian uprising. Oh yeah. Definitely. Don't forget that Anonymous got involved in all of that, as well. Anons are not users; users use Facebook. Therefore, Anons are not Facebook users. At least, they don't use it as intended, according to the TOS. More like a stage for sockpuppet shows, to judge by the Twitter feeds.

I'm not suggesting that regular internet users and organizers switch to IRC - nothing that extreme. It would be nice to see people show a little curiosity about what's out there, at the very least. Diaspora*'s my favorite, because it was built from the ground up by mathematicians, just like WikiPedia and WikiLeaks, with security and content ownership in mind. There is no TOS, and no central data nexus - it's a distributed network that works like a charm, and is used by millions of the web's nerdier sorts. And yeah, #OWS was a trending tag on Diaspora*, and is getting popular with the #Pirat party in Europe. Then there's WordPress with BuddyPress, Elgg, and other open-source software that's a snap to install and operate a dedicated social network that allows some integration with user's social identities.

These aren't the aberrations - Facebook and Twitter are... open-source is the future of social networking. That's why I cheer for the fall of Facebook. Not because I think social networking is stupid, but because I think Facebook is stupid. And wrong. And Zuckerberg is a traitor.

[Horse with no Name]

63. That is cool--I'd love to friend you but

My FB is strictly my personal life, pictures, observations.

I block any political stuff (except for what I like), but I don't do any kind of networking on it.

I am sitting out this year as an activist and campaign volunteer. I will vote...but I am not working any campaigns. You, however, remain one of my DU heroes for your activism and continued enthusiasm.

[proud2BlibKansan]

69. And you are one of my faves as well!

I'm thinking of setting up a second Facebook page. I don't have any crazy right wing relatives, they just aren't as interested in politics as I am. My teacher friends are becoming energized so my page is full of education articles. And since the war on women here in Kansas has been so insane, I almost need a page just for that stuff. LOL

As always -->

[Ratty]

23. I have a Facebook blocking Firefox add-on

I don't like the idea of all those FB icons on every website in existence - they're tracking me somehow, I just know it. So I have a FF add-on that disables all things FB from all web pages. Here on DU I often can't see some of the pictures people post because they come from a FB url. I'm OK with that.

[daaron]

34. Yeah, there's a few of those.

I use the Ghostery Firefox add-on, and Adblock Plus. Together they cover most ground. On Windows OS, I use NoScript, too - just because MS hates JS, and refuses to build an immune-defense system against JS viral infections. Mostly I use Linux, JS-friendly and unless I want to be invisible, I don't worry about scripts or LSO cookies, too much.

But yeah. Ghostery keeps HuffPo etc. from Facebook tracking, Google+ tracking, any other tracker I want to block. No more "Hello, (Insert GF's Name)"! Yay!

[snooper2]

37. they're tracking me somehow, I just know it.

[Voice for Peace]

42. I hope they're tracking me

I've got a thing or two I'd love them to know.

[daaron]

44. Actually, just BlogAds, Google Adsense and Analytics on DU.

But I guess it depends on how many tabs you have open, and to what. Your choice - personally, I'm a coder, so pretty much I see a cool app, I start speculating on how it was written. I have that kind of curiosity about computers. I've taken a cell phone apart and fixed my GF's power cord the other day (my 1st soldering project in decades!) At one point, I wondered what was involved in writing an open-sourced SNS, and found out someone already had, so I researched it and learned stuff. That's how I roll.

When trackers became a nuisance, I took the 10 minutes needed to figure out how to eradicate them. It wasn't hard, and now I have the ultimate browser set-up. Throw in Greasemonkey and Firebug, and presto, WikiPedia looks like a Star Trek LCARS console! Whee! That's fun! Think I'll try to do that to DU! Wheee!!!

So I'm not worried about trackers. I just like knowing how to swat flies.

[snooper2]

49. but they really aren't "tracking" your anonymous handle on the internet LOL

Like the man out there knows or would even care about all the websites you vistit LOL


Cracks me up, just like people that think every phone call out there is recorded in some secret database

[Ratty]

55. I think they do want to know all the sites you visit

http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/25/facebook-tracking-logged-out/

[daaron]

60. Oh, no, you misunderstand.

'They', meaning a mountain of servers, is indeed reading every single email one sends through google, yahoo, or hotmail. They've already admitted to it. Similarly, FB answers tens of thousands of data requests from LEOs monthly. Twitter is better about holding out on the suspicious requests, but only by degrees. There's no question we're all being tracked, though our individual identities are largely lost in the big data. That's just a plain fact.

The question is does one need to fear it to do something about it? Obviously not, since I'm not worried about being tracked, though I'm aware of it. As for every call being recorded - don't be silly - just the larger service providers have a deal with Feds for monitoring purposes (all of which info has been public domain for years).

ROFLing all you want. Plain fact is you are being tracked, all the time. Either be uninterested in the technology and remain forever in the dark about the often groovy tech that's out there, or don't. It's no skin off my teeth. But neither will I be told I'm paranoid by a know-nothing noob, when I know exactly what I'm talking about.

[snooper2]

61. I work for a service provider, not one of the big three

but good size..u

Everybody has to comply with CALEA mandates, period. The number of active warrants vs. number of actual customers at any given point in time is a very small fraction. very small... (and it has to be signed by a judge )

[daaron]

72. Yeah everyone has to comply, but big 3 are complicit, not just compliant. nt

[Tom Ripley]

24. Good. It's just a damn year-round Christmas letter

[RadiationTherapy]

32. It is a revolution in communication technology first and foremost.

It is a failure as a business - though the resulting million/billionaires may disagree.

It is similar to a cafe or bar where many people hang out and talk about many things. You may enter and exit and share as you please. I don't see the problem with it.

[snooper2]

33. At the end of the fucking day it's just a website---

I put more value in the City of Plano's website. At least I can pay my water and trash bill there online

[Xolodno]

35. Once the "ZOMG!! Facebook didn't make any stock purchasers instant millionaires!!!!!111111"

...wears off. It will stabalize and and rise and fall on its advertising revenue, profit, etc. Wall Street had its "darling" in the Google IPO, now they were looking for something to deficate on..and since people love to hate Facebook, it was a natural fit. The real question is, how many people made money betting the stock would sputter?

Anyone remember the episode on John Stewart when he had Jim Kramer on as a guest and showed the bits where Jim was giving advice to another "investor" on creating rumors people want to hear? I wouldn't be surprised this is more of the same.

[daaron]

48. At a minimum, JP Morgan & Goldman Sachs, acc. to WSJ, shorted their investments. nt

[gaspee]

47. Does no one remember the 90's?

The Facebook IPO is just a rehash of all the tech IPOs in the 90's. If Mr/Ms Public can get a piece of an IPO, the should never touch it! The insiders work the IPOs and the public like puppets. All the right people made tons of money on the IPO.