There’s lots of skepticism out there about stodgy venture-capital fund Bay Partners creating a special investment vehicle for Facebook apps, called AppFactory. Om’s post is entitled “Bonkers By The Bay,” which pretty much sums up his point of view on the idea — that it’s a dumb move by a VC firm that has been swept up in the Facebook hysteria, and that it’s dumb in part because it means building a business on a proprietary platform.
Facebook Hires Former AOL Exec
In the past seven or so years, Chamath Palihapitiya worked at AOL and co-founded MyMusicChannel. He then moved on to Mayfield Fund, which has “over $2.7 billion under management.” Now Palihapitiya’s found another job; he will serve as Facebook’s vice president of product marketing and operations.
Facebook Heads For IPO, Rumor Says
Sometimes little things add up and point to something big. Something serious and something funny may mean Facebook stands on the cusp of making Mark Zuckerberg and his backers very rich.
Facebook Discusses Personalized People Search
Facebook’s a formidable entry in the social networking field – we all know this. But the company’s announcement that it is also doing well in people search (indeed, in Facebook’s own words, it is the “[m]ost used people search engine on the web”) came as a surprise to many.
iLike Thrives Through Facebook
In olden times, the pope would often crown a new king. These days, that duty sometimes falls to Facebook – iLike’s recent success has been attributed almost entirely to that one site.
LinkedIn’s Facebook Application
Since Facebook opened up its platform for third party applications, there has been a lot of activity. The latest major provider to launch a Facebook app is business-oriented social network LinkedIn. The new app is a “My Company’s Hiring” function. A profile link leads to a list of positions for which one’s firm is recruiting. A “more info” link can lead to a full job description, an application form, etc.
MySpace Feels Pressure From Facebook, Bebo
MySpace has long been the UK’s leading social network (in terms of traffic), but the site seems to be losing its touch. Conversely, two competitors – Bebo and Facebook – are starting to show strong gains of their own.
Does Your Facebook Profile Show up on Google?
I had no idea, but apparently Facebook’s walled garden has a public directory. I had just assumed that everything in Facebook was behind a login prompt, but I found out via a FaceReviews post that a large number of Facebook users, depending on their privacy settings, have public profile pages, and have had so for the last six months. Here’s what one looks like:
Facebook Photos Show Up In Yearbook
Let’s all say it together: the Internet is a pretty public place. But not everyone seems to understand that, and now some teens who posted questionable pictures on Facebook have seen those photos resurface in their high school yearbook.
Facebook Apps Market Develops
It’s interesting to see that a market for Facebook applications — or widgets — is developing, although the prices are still small. In one of the latest transactions, Inside Facebook notes that Slide.com (run by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin) has bought the app Favorite Peeps for a reported $60,000. Another site, FaceWatch, has also written about the purchase.