4 ms·

Look at their revenue growth, their stock performance, their cost of revenue, their profit margins, and their incredible strategic bets like Instagram/WhatsApp

Look at their revenue growth, their stock performance, their cost of revenue, their profit margins, and their incredible strategic bets like Instagram/WhatsApp as well as their well-executed transition to mobile. What about hiring of COO Sheryl Sandberg at the perfect time, their well-executed competition with SnapChat, their well executed video strategy, multi-app strategy, look at messenger, look at their growth numbers quarter over quarter which are crazy. I mean you'd be incredibly naive to ignore those things and how well they've worked. Facebook Ads work. They work when you put effort into them and know what exactly what you're doing. Ask any marketing firm. It's a complicated mechanism that has to be learned and experimented with but now Facebook Ads are among the lions share of the advertising market along with Google. They work for many businesses. Just ask Dollar Shave Club. Ask Stitch Fix. Ask Warby Parker. Ask King. Facebook Ads also don't work if all you're doing is throwing $10k into them with a bunch of random targeting. In fact, no advertising works if you don't know what you're doing and if you're not tracking everything to a T. That's not Facebook's fault - their engine is completely self-serve. As are AdWords from Google. You can blow $100k on AdWords and get no results just as easily as you can blow it on Facebook and get no results. I made no value judgement on their innovations. I've learned better than to do that on HN where people become so hostile if you even suggest that Facebook might be useful in some ways. I only made a value judgement on their business which is sound and growing rapidly.

cdf 9y ago
Well said. For years now, I hear people say Facebook is not useful for "me" and I dont even disagree. But how typical are the "me"s among the billions of facebook users? Furthermore, in many third world countries, the only internet they know and will ever see is facebook properties via internet.org. I see the facebook logo on almost all retailers in my patch of the world. Retailers no longer advertise their websites or phone numbers. See us on facebook, they all say. This doesnt just happen without a lot of people brilliantly working hard and smart.

cdf 9y ago

Well said. For years now, I hear people say Facebook is not useful for "me" and I dont even disagree. But how typical are the "me"s among the billions of facebook users? Furthermore, in many third world countries, the only internet they know and will ever see is facebook properties via internet.org. I see the facebook logo on almost all retailers in my patch of the world. Retailers no longer advertise their websites or phone numbers. See us on facebook, they all say. This doesnt just happen without a lot of people brilliantly working hard and smart.