There's an unspoken assumption behind all this, that I'm wondering about. So, FB is having the usual IPO roadshow, but they're not doing it quite as expected.

There's an unspoken assumption behind all this, that I'm wondering about. So, FB is having the usual IPO roadshow, but they're not doing it quite as expected. My question: Why are they having the roadshow at all? Instead they could have done a few interviews with major business magazines (which I believe they did), put out what amounts to an annual report, to get people information, maybe even had a special hotshot-analyst-only webpage for submitting questions about strategy & what not. What does the roadshow get them that the above wouldn't have? The only things I can think of are time & money spent, and lots of headaches.