We may be seeing a textbook example of how not to run a company, and how, through arrogance and stupidity, a once-promising company cratered.
NYT: Facebook’s Zuckerberg lied to us; Coke: ditto
From influential tech blogger Robert Scoble
Facebook has the most controlling PR department outside of Apple and it sure is in the middle of a PR crisis right now.
I feel ambivalent about the troubles Facebook is having right now. Personally I’m having lots of trouble with Facebook but Facebook doesn’t care about people who have more than 5,000 friends unless they can figure out a way to monetize us. Everytime I look at Facebook I am reminded of how little Facebook cares about me. So, I care less and less about Facebook every day.
The geek reaction to Facebook’s Orwellian program Beacon which tracks what you do across any participating site you visit and reports it publicly on Facebook with no ability to opt-out has been hugely negative. This was made worse by them lying about it. Facebook has just a few days to make a real and convincing about-face or business schools in the future will use them as a case study of what not to do.
Me, I’m like Scoble. Since this story broke, I’ve virtually stopped using Facebook. Doubtless many others have too.