Facebook: Bloggers Kick Zuckerberg Off Throne, What Were They ‘Smoking’?
The media about face over Mark Zuckerberg is as glaring as a Facebook Beacon!
After all, was it not just weeks ago that I pondered ”Why does Facebook make young men swoon?”
On the other hand, was it not just months ago that Dan Farber, ”vice-president of editorial at CNET Networks and editor in chief of ZDNet, with more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology,” crowned Zuckerberg’s Facebook the “prince of social networking,” lauding, days before F8’s launch:
“Given how many friend requests I am getting on Facebook from people who I would expect to hear from on LinkedIn, it’s clear that the number two social network, trailing the massive MySpace, is poised to become the prince of social networking….
Facebook is also poised to grow up as a company.”
REALLY? Should an editor in chief use his personal anecdotal experience to crown a startup royalty?
Farber giddily celebrated the arrival of F8, headlining: “Facebook’s Zuckerberg uncorks the social graph.” How did the the veteran journalist ”lead” his report? By hailing the 23-year-old Harvard dropout’s inappropriate attire:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage in jeans, Adidas shower shoes and Northface polar fleece and told that crowd that they were at the beginning of a new movement. He then described the recent growth of the company and to the company’s secret sauce–the social graph.
Farber helped the Zuckerberg case along, republishing verbatim a 20 bullet-point Facebook claim of Web dominance: “No.1 photo sharing application on the web, Sixth-most trafficked site in the United States, More than 100,000 new registrations per day since January 2007…”
Today, though, Farber is turning the tables on adulation of the Facebook wunderkid that he led, desecrating his own “Adidas shower shoes” clad royalty photo by photoshopping a bird cage into Zuckerberg’s hands to support his “The canary in the social networking coal mine” headline.
What’s more, Farber now calls for “adult supervision” of Mark Zuckerberg:
The company needs to get its feet back on the ground and figure out what kind of company it wants to be when it grows up.
REALLY? The ZDNet editor in chief plea for Facebook to grow up comes on the heels of him asserting just six months ago that “Facebook is poised to grow up as a company”!
How is it that the CNET Networks Vice-President of editorial SO missed the Facebook privacy writing (graffitti) on the wall six months ago?
While Farber was showering Facebook with praise upon the ”unveiling” of F8 in May, I was reading the Facebook privacy policy that was published to coincide with the launch of F8; I concluded that “Facebook is scarier than Google,” as I headlined, at ZDNet.
SEE: YES! Facebook IS Scarier Than Google!
Farber now wonders of Facebook execs, “What are they smoking?”:
Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook vice president of product marketing and operations, implied that press and pundits were blowing the privacy controversy out of proportion. “Just to give you where a lot of this feedback is coming from, it’s coming more from the press than specific users. Right now, the right thing to do is to make sure we speak to actual users, not the pundits,” he told the NYT.
What are they smoking?
Et tu Dan, six months ago?
PLUS: Beacon Privacy Solution: STOP USING FACEBOOK! and Facebook: Harvard Dropout Tricks NYT? Zuckerberg is Coca-Cola Scapegoat
MORE: MoveOn’s Facebook Crusade: eBay, IAC, CBS, NYTimes Get Beacon Privacy Pass and Zuckerberg Flash: Facebook FREE VPN Is Advertising Supported and MoveOn.org Facebook Petition: What 501(c)(4) Civic Action?
ALSO: Google Beware: Facebook Takes Local Advertising Gloves Off, ILM REPORT