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I realize that Facebook gets enormous amounts of traffic, and so requires the resources for scaling/high availability and all that. But how in the world have th

I realize that Facebook gets enormous amounts of traffic, and so requires the resources for scaling/high availability and all that. But how in the world have they gone through most of $500 million? What the hell are they doing over there?

maryrosecook 18y ago
They do have ~700 employees (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook)...
- river_styx 18y ago
  That's sort of what I'm getting at. Why do they need so many resources? I mean, looking at the software and its requirements, I don't see the necessity.
  - tortilla 18y ago
    I bet their revenue projections were based upon insane levels of growth (internal and external). Even if the economy was in better shape it would have been hard to reach profitability.
  - tom_rath 18y ago
    My guess is they're a victim of cargo cult thinking: Hugely successful companies have lots of employees and spiffy offices, right?
    - staunch 18y ago
      Yeah. And Google has done the exact same thing. They're just fortunate that their business model is so much better that it can support their massively inflated head count. At least with Google it kind of makes sense in an evil way: hire every programmer who could be a serious competitor.
      - run4yourlives 18y ago
        Difference being that Google recognizes that one of their strongest growth areas is capitalizing on innovative ideas. Gmail, Apps, Gtalk, Chrome... all innovations that build the company. I'm not sure what facebook has done, or whether this should really be what the focus on, to be honest.
    - abstractbill 18y ago
      Perhaps also with some empire-building thrown in? Maybe everyone wants a promotion in recognition of their great work, so they need to hire new employees to work under them. I have seen hiring decisions made for that reason before.
  - senthil_rajasek 18y ago
    Have you noticed how fast,snappy and easy it is to access photos and albums on facebook? for one...
  - ntoshev 18y ago
    The hard part is molding the social behavior into something that adds a lot of value to the users and eventually to Facebook shareholders. How hard is that? I remember a thread here in HN asking how much time would you need to build a site like Hacker News. Lots of people said something like "a week, top". pg said something like "one year".
    - kalvin 18y ago
      It's always been interesting to hear people's responses to "how long do you think it would take to duplicate Facebook?" In general, the more experience/knowledge the person has, the longer they think it would take...
- wensing 18y ago
  I'd rather be http://www.crunchbase.com/company/craigslist http://www.crunchbase.com/company/craigslist
- run4yourlives 18y ago
  Doing what, exactly?

maryrosecook 18y ago

They do have ~700 employees (http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook)...

river_styx 18y ago
That's sort of what I'm getting at. Why do they need so many resources? I mean, looking at the software and its requirements, I don't see the necessity.
- tortilla 18y ago
  I bet their revenue projections were based upon insane levels of growth (internal and external). Even if the economy was in better shape it would have been hard to reach profitability.
- tom_rath 18y ago
  My guess is they're a victim of cargo cult thinking: Hugely successful companies have lots of employees and spiffy offices, right?
  - staunch 18y ago
    Yeah. And Google has done the exact same thing. They're just fortunate that their business model is so much better that it can support their massively inflated head count. At least with Google it kind of makes sense in an evil way: hire every programmer who could be a serious competitor.
    - run4yourlives 18y ago
      Difference being that Google recognizes that one of their strongest growth areas is capitalizing on innovative ideas. Gmail, Apps, Gtalk, Chrome... all innovations that build the company. I'm not sure what facebook has done, or whether this should really be what the focus on, to be honest.
  - abstractbill 18y ago
    Perhaps also with some empire-building thrown in? Maybe everyone wants a promotion in recognition of their great work, so they need to hire new employees to work under them. I have seen hiring decisions made for that reason before.
- senthil_rajasek 18y ago
  Have you noticed how fast,snappy and easy it is to access photos and albums on facebook? for one...
- ntoshev 18y ago
  The hard part is molding the social behavior into something that adds a lot of value to the users and eventually to Facebook shareholders. How hard is that? I remember a thread here in HN asking how much time would you need to build a site like Hacker News. Lots of people said something like "a week, top". pg said something like "one year".
  - kalvin 18y ago
    It's always been interesting to hear people's responses to "how long do you think it would take to duplicate Facebook?" In general, the more experience/knowledge the person has, the longer they think it would take...
wensing 18y ago
I'd rather be http://www.crunchbase.com/company/craigslist http://www.crunchbase.com/company/craigslist
run4yourlives 18y ago
Doing what, exactly?