back to article Facebook posts loss despite strong revenue growth

On Thursday Facebook gave its first-ever earnings report since becoming a public company, and although it posted a loss, it generally met analysts' expectations and showed strong revenue growth, aside from some nagging weaknesses in the mobile market. Wall Street was largely unimpressed, however, and Facebook shares began …

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  1. Mr_Bungle
    Stop

    Things that used to rule the Net

    Do you remember newsgroups?

    Do you remember IRC?

    Do you remember ICQ?

    Do you remember Messenger?

    Do you remember Friends Reunited ?

    Do you remember My Space?

    Do you remember Facebook...

    1. LarsG
      Headmaster

      Re: Things that used to rule the Net

      You been around!

      It's all about profit, if there is no profit then there is no business.

      We shall wait and see.

    2. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Things that used to rule the Net

      ...newsgroups? Pah. Do you remember BBSs and FidoNet? [ once upon a time... 2:254/86.1 :-) ]

      On a more serious note... Uh... What is Facebook's product, exactly? Trying to extract loyalty from fickle lemons? Is that worth the obscene valuations people put on it? Jeez, it isn't even as if there's a long term plan besides "more of the same".

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Things that used to rule the Net

        The agony of logging on only to find that your ship had been destroyed and you had been sent to the chair for trafficking in narcotics.

    3. Fibbles
      Meh

      Re: Things that used to rule the Net

      Everything you listed until Facebook had something supposedly better to succeed it. What is there to replace Facebook at the moment? Google+ isn't exactly taking off...

      1. Euripides Pants

        Re: Things that used to rule the Net

        "What is there to replace Facebook at the moment?"

        Going outside

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Things that used to rule the Net

      Umm, yes, but only the last one allowed a total tw*t to collaborate with the usual Wall Street criminals to con the terminally stupid out of a boatload of cash. Even the dot.con era did not manage to impose on so many a tax on stupidity.

      The greatest irritation that FB offers is that it makes the media consider Zuckerberg some kind of business guru and gives him airtime so here's to that boat sinking soon.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Failbook

      That's why we're so focused on investing in our priorities of mobile

      Whenever I use their mobile app now 80% of it is taken up with trending videos or articles and sponsored pages for me to like that someone on my friends list allegedly likes. Those sponsored pages take up quite a bit of space and there's always three or four on my feed in addition to the crappy trending videos or articles.

      I've showed mates before when Facebook says they like a certain page and so far none of them have any recollection of liking the page they are being used to advertise....

      Thankfully I've found the option to switch it off so my ugly mug isn't appearing on people's feeds telling them to like tampons and god knows what other shite zuck is selling this week, but their mobile 'experience' is getting worse and worse and that will be their downfall

      The desktop is slowly dying but they won't be able to make money off the mobile version in quite the same fashion which will mean even more ads and even more users leaving

      I think Zynga heading for the toilet will hurt Facebook too as there are loads of people with more than one Facebook account for watering their virtual crops

    6. Arctic fox
      Headmaster

      Re: "Things that used to rule the Net." Never mind the Net - there is nothing new..........

      ...............under the sun. The "Tulipmania" peaked in Holland in 1637 and when it then crashed in ruined a very large number of people. The "valuations" reached the equivalent to a skilled manual worker's annual salary per bulb before it all when tits up. Or the infamous "South Sea Bubble" which reached it's top in about 1720 before "deflating" leaving the shares at about their flotation price (sound familiar?) and the national economy in depression. The net facilitates this kind of mass financial idiocy but the idiocy itself is as old as the hills. The primary difference being is that we now see the effects on a global rather than merely national scale.

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Things that used to rule the Net

      possibly a hint of what's to come here ...

      at 46 years old, I can actually recall when there wasn't an internet. In fact I can point to RFCs which show that I helped develop the internet (brilliant interview trick, btw). However, I often find myself dealing with people 10-15 years younger than me who have no idea how the internet developed. And at the other end of the spectrum, there are people, 10-15 years older than me that are slowly leaving the world of IT, taking an awful lot of knowledge with them.

      For a select few professionals, who remain the last of their breed, in certain, niche areas, a very sweet future is assured.

    8. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The only thing

      The only thing that Facebook does is remind me, when seeing photos of old school friends, is how old I've become.

      However this is not all depressing, I'm the only one left with a full head of hair!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Facebook stock

    To all those FB fanbois who purchased stock, I have a lovely big bridge in Sydney to sell you.

    Does no one remember the dot.com disaster/s?

  3. davnel

    Remember why Facebook went Public?

    Zuck did not want to go public. He was basically forced by the SEC because he was making too much money. Now everyone is complaining because Facebook isn't another Google.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Remember why Facebook went Public?

      if you believe that sir, then you must be one of those "dumb f*ck"s that your leader referred to. It was greed, pure and unadulterated, cash in before the wheels come off

      1. auburnman
        Go

        cash in before the wheels come off

        At the end of the day, why not? If I were in Zuck's shoes right now I'd be looking for a way to bailout with as much cash as I can hold in my greedy little claws that doesn't involve getting my tits sued off. At least he made a thing and was freely given some money for stakes in the thing he made (assuming the allegations of book-cooking are false.) That's a hell of a lot more accomplishment than a lot of the rich elite, so more power to him if he rides of into the sunset weighed down with bags of gold.

    2. Yet Another Commentard

      Re: Remember why Facebook went Public?

      @davnel

      I am no fan of the SEC, but this statement is, ahem, rubbish. The SEC does not compel any company to list, it just regulates them once they deal in traded securities (if "makes them tick some boxes and shout at them when the SEC fails" is regulation). The company's owners/exec decides when and if to list.

      If it forces firms to list, then why are the following in private hands...

      Mars ($30bn revenue)

      Bechtel ($27.9bn revenue)

      Toys-R-Us (13.86bn revenue)

    3. stanimir

      Re: Remember why Facebook went Public?

      @davnel, you're clueless. A company can stay private as it sees fit, no one forces you to go public. However withing a private company it's too difficult to issue stock options and lure the rich-hungry staff in S. Valley.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmmmm...

    "The number of ads delivered in the US was actually down 2 per cent over last year. Sandberg said that this was due to the fact that more users in developed markets are switching from PCs to mobile phones"

    I would have thought that displaying irrelevant, repetitive and just pain rubbish adverts would also drive people to installing things like adblockers.

    Facebook knows I'm married and it knows where I live but it insists on delivering adverts for singles dating sites, or for companies offering local services (builders etc) from the other side of the country, PPI reclaim adverts and "one minute decision" credit cards.

    If you tell FB you aren't interested in a specific sort of ad it just ignores you and continues to serve them up to you. Also the number of adverts which are "Like our product / page / pile of crap" from companies you've never heard of is crazy.

    FB need to improve their targeting algorithms and they also need to improve the quality of the adverts they are serving if they want people not to take steps to avoid having them delivered to them. I do not mind adverts - I have a problem with badly targeted adverts.

  5. MrXavia
    Thumb Up

    Is anyone surprised at this?

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