6 ms·

I'm poor and starting a new venture. I don't have FB. If my success depends on me/my company having FB presence, then my business sucks. How this idea of FB bei

by taytus 9y ago

I'm poor and starting a new venture. I don't have FB. If my success depends on me/my company having FB presence, then my business sucks. How this idea of FB being the "place to be" got so much traction is beyond me.

toufka 9y ago
Yep. LinkedIn as well. Still without one, and starting strong. Very much realize I must put my data where my mouth is. Similarly, I'll be far less likely to hire one who has Facebook on their resume.
- dgellow 9y ago
  > Similarly, I'll be far less likely to hire one who has Facebook on their resume. Could you explain why? I don’t see an obvious reason to avoid ex-Facebook employees
  - toufka 9y ago
    From my personal interactions, and with my personal perspective of how Facebook has publicly conducted itself over the years, having worked at Facebook would immediately raise red flags in my mind about the philosophical perspective of the potential employee for having worked 'at will' at the company. Context certainly matters, but it would be become a point of conversation. Not all that different from a health-professional being wary of hiring someone who used to work for a tobacco company. To me it would indicate the possibility that the person might not want to understand the wider implications of their work, might understand those implications but not care about them so long as they are personally or socially enriched, or might just agree with the duplicitous nature of the company. There are of course circumstances to account for, and everyone's reasons are different - but the above rationalizations would raise red flags for me - especially in my industry where thinking about wider implications of our work is absolutely critical.
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I am not the GP but I totally agree and the same goes for NSA employees. They have proven they are okay with violating the privacy rights of a billion people.
- apotheothesomai 9y ago
  LinkedIn is rather more important. It's still the largest professional database we have and a kind of rolodex. Having worked for and still working part-time for a major, as in top 5, vc firm, investors will definitely look for you on LinkedIn early on to ensure that you're a legit person with a good job history and a network. This is even more important, when they are hiring for themselves. There are so many grifters in tech, that investors and people hiring for leadership positions in startups feel the need to be able to draw a connection between your network and theirs. Moreover, if investors are interested in your venture, they'll want you to create a profile and assembles a network. It's part of having visibility for your venture and a certain amount of legitimacy in the community. A company is people, and their leaders need an online presence outside of Github and fora. I'm sure people will jump in with all kinds of anecdotal counter-examples, but this is what I've seen in a few years working for Sand Hill.
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I honestly would decline funding from investors that expected me to waste time on LinkedIn. Unless you are selling to HR, it's a pointless circle jerk.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  LinkedIn is great for their intended use case of documenting and presenting your professional relationships for potential job offers. But LinkedIn doesn't connect you with potential customers.
EpicEng 9y ago
>If my success depends on me/my company having FB presence, then my business sucks. And then... >How this idea of FB being the "place to be" got so much traction is beyond me. If FB is "the place to be" as you say it is, then it is a valuable marketing resource and your first comment doesn't follow. I don't see how it's any different than advertising on TV in the early days. All of a sudden a new medium for reaching an even larger number of people popped onto the scene, so people used it heavily. You may not like FB, but you can't dispute the fact that you are able to reach a lot of people for little to no cost using it. You can't then go on to say that a business "sucks" because it relies on FB for marketing.
- taytus 9y ago
  >but you can't dispute the fact that you are able to reach a lot of people They are a website!!!!! The internet is larger than FB. Listen, I'm not denying how popular FB is, all I'm saying is that you can figure it out how to do business without depending on their platform. That's all. Ninja Edit: I'm not saying "it's the place to be" I'm saying that other folks believe that. I disagree.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - et-al 9y ago
    Imagine you're a small coffeeshop that just needs to list your hours and location on the internet and maybe make some announcements. What are your options? - Google Maps - Facebook Page - Yelp Page - Instagram (maaaybe) You most likely already have a Facebook account, so setting up a Facebook page would be the easiest.
    - taytus 9y ago
      This is a good point. Thank you.
    - herogreen 9y ago
      One could argue that having hours and location online is so important for businesses that you do not necessarily have to chose the tool that is the easiest to setup.
r00fus 9y ago
This, in an nutshell. FB is yet another (large) marketing/engagement channel. Do you get more/better customers from FB? Perhaps/perhaps not.
product50 9y ago
Do you even know what you are talking about? Here, let me give you an example to open up your mind. Imagine, you are a kids jacket retailer and have a Shopify store. Yes, these exists and are popular. How do you get users to your store? Yes, you use Facebook. Do you know how you Facebook here? You create a group with VIP members and offer them an exclusive discount over new jackets. This builds loyalty and provides word of mouth marketing. Next you create a page and try to post different images/videos of kids in your exclusive jackets and build followers who will like/share your post and thus get you free organic distribution. Next, you use fb ads and target your specific demographics (say women 25-40 yrs old who are interested in kids) to get users in. This is a real thing. One of my best friends has a multimillion dollar business a yr on kids jackets and all she uses for marketing is facebook and she swears by it.
- alex_young 9y ago
  Your friend should write a book and sell seminars on how to launch a multi-million dollar shopify store then. That's where the real money is. Source: https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/117-the-worlds-most-expensive-free-watch https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/117-the-worlds-most-ex...
  - crystaln 9y ago
    The real money is telling people how to make money. Sounds like a pyramid scheme.
    - supertiger 9y ago
      not really. I believe that is real. Telling people how to make money comes with no risk and high profit margin.
      - crystaln 9y ago
        Well, if the real money is in teaching people how to make money, then teaching people how to make money involves teaching people how to teach people how to make money, and thus recursed. This is a pyramid scheme.
unethical_ban 9y ago
Depends on the business. Entertainment venue? Live music/special events/etc? Almost every spot in my town seems to use Facebook to advertise these events, and NOTHING ELSE. I don't like it... but it's what people do. It's the only reason I have a facebook.

by taytus 9y ago

toufka 9y ago

Yep. LinkedIn as well. Still without one, and starting strong. Very much realize I must put my data where my mouth is. Similarly, I'll be far less likely to hire one who has Facebook on their resume.

dgellow 9y ago
> Similarly, I'll be far less likely to hire one who has Facebook on their resume. Could you explain why? I don’t see an obvious reason to avoid ex-Facebook employees
- toufka 9y ago
  From my personal interactions, and with my personal perspective of how Facebook has publicly conducted itself over the years, having worked at Facebook would immediately raise red flags in my mind about the philosophical perspective of the potential employee for having worked 'at will' at the company. Context certainly matters, but it would be become a point of conversation. Not all that different from a health-professional being wary of hiring someone who used to work for a tobacco company. To me it would indicate the possibility that the person might not want to understand the wider implications of their work, might understand those implications but not care about them so long as they are personally or socially enriched, or might just agree with the duplicitous nature of the company. There are of course circumstances to account for, and everyone's reasons are different - but the above rationalizations would raise red flags for me - especially in my industry where thinking about wider implications of our work is absolutely critical.
- paulie_a 9y ago
  I am not the GP but I totally agree and the same goes for NSA employees. They have proven they are okay with violating the privacy rights of a billion people.
apotheothesomai 9y ago
LinkedIn is rather more important. It's still the largest professional database we have and a kind of rolodex. Having worked for and still working part-time for a major, as in top 5, vc firm, investors will definitely look for you on LinkedIn early on to ensure that you're a legit person with a good job history and a network. This is even more important, when they are hiring for themselves. There are so many grifters in tech, that investors and people hiring for leadership positions in startups feel the need to be able to draw a connection between your network and theirs. Moreover, if investors are interested in your venture, they'll want you to create a profile and assembles a network. It's part of having visibility for your venture and a certain amount of legitimacy in the community. A company is people, and their leaders need an online presence outside of Github and fora. I'm sure people will jump in with all kinds of anecdotal counter-examples, but this is what I've seen in a few years working for Sand Hill.
- paulie_a 9y ago
  I honestly would decline funding from investors that expected me to waste time on LinkedIn. Unless you are selling to HR, it's a pointless circle jerk.
em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
LinkedIn is great for their intended use case of documenting and presenting your professional relationships for potential job offers. But LinkedIn doesn't connect you with potential customers.

EpicEng 9y ago

>If my success depends on me/my company having FB presence, then my business sucks. And then... >How this idea of FB being the "place to be" got so much traction is beyond me. If FB is "the place to be" as you say it is, then it is a valuable marketing resource and your first comment doesn't follow. I don't see how it's any different than advertising on TV in the early days. All of a sudden a new medium for reaching an even larger number of people popped onto the scene, so people used it heavily. You may not like FB, but you can't dispute the fact that you are able to reach a lot of people for little to no cost using it. You can't then go on to say that a business "sucks" because it relies on FB for marketing.

taytus 9y ago
>but you can't dispute the fact that you are able to reach a lot of people They are a website!!!!! The internet is larger than FB. Listen, I'm not denying how popular FB is, all I'm saying is that you can figure it out how to do business without depending on their platform. That's all. Ninja Edit: I'm not saying "it's the place to be" I'm saying that other folks believe that. I disagree.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- et-al 9y ago
  Imagine you're a small coffeeshop that just needs to list your hours and location on the internet and maybe make some announcements. What are your options? - Google Maps - Facebook Page - Yelp Page - Instagram (maaaybe) You most likely already have a Facebook account, so setting up a Facebook page would be the easiest.
  - taytus 9y ago
    This is a good point. Thank you.
  - herogreen 9y ago
    One could argue that having hours and location online is so important for businesses that you do not necessarily have to chose the tool that is the easiest to setup.

r00fus 9y ago

This, in an nutshell. FB is yet another (large) marketing/engagement channel. Do you get more/better customers from FB? Perhaps/perhaps not.

product50 9y ago

Do you even know what you are talking about? Here, let me give you an example to open up your mind. Imagine, you are a kids jacket retailer and have a Shopify store. Yes, these exists and are popular. How do you get users to your store? Yes, you use Facebook. Do you know how you Facebook here? You create a group with VIP members and offer them an exclusive discount over new jackets. This builds loyalty and provides word of mouth marketing. Next you create a page and try to post different images/videos of kids in your exclusive jackets and build followers who will like/share your post and thus get you free organic distribution. Next, you use fb ads and target your specific demographics (say women 25-40 yrs old who are interested in kids) to get users in. This is a real thing. One of my best friends has a multimillion dollar business a yr on kids jackets and all she uses for marketing is facebook and she swears by it.

alex_young 9y ago
Your friend should write a book and sell seminars on how to launch a multi-million dollar shopify store then. That's where the real money is. Source: https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/117-the-worlds-most-expensive-free-watch https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/117-the-worlds-most-ex...
- crystaln 9y ago
  The real money is telling people how to make money. Sounds like a pyramid scheme.
  - supertiger 9y ago
    not really. I believe that is real. Telling people how to make money comes with no risk and high profit margin.
    - crystaln 9y ago
      Well, if the real money is in teaching people how to make money, then teaching people how to make money involves teaching people how to teach people how to make money, and thus recursed. This is a pyramid scheme.

unethical_ban 9y ago

Depends on the business. Entertainment venue? Live music/special events/etc? Almost every spot in my town seems to use Facebook to advertise these events, and NOTHING ELSE. I don't like it... but it's what people do. It's the only reason I have a facebook.