Derek DeVries – Imprudent Loquaciousness

By now everyone with access to the Internet (and even a lot of people who don’t) are aware that Facebook filed for an Initial Public Offering.

If every other social networking platform in the history of the web is a guide, this signals the beginning of the end for Facebook.  Private corporations are freer from the pressure to drum up wads of cash in the short term than publicly-traded companies.  They are also more resilient in the face of economic challenges than private companies because they can absorb a period of shrinking profits instead of scrambling to implement drastic measure (like mass layoffs) to quickly cook the books for a pennywise short term jump in profits.

Here’s why Facebook will suffer from the rush to monetize the gigantic community of users it has amassed: Read more…