The Facebook (R)evolution

Connie Bensen writes about the newly introduced advertising opportunities on Facebook and she's very skeptical about the overall user experience.
And Seth Godin compares Hotmail to Facebook. Not a flattering comparison.

My take? Something reaks. Rather awful.

It's almost feels like Facebook was the pot dealer in the school yard, giving away free joints and, after we all got hooked and shared our personal information, they are trying to sell the real drugs to us. Needles in the arm, baby. And the advertisers are waiting around the corner to provide the dealers with more stuff to support the addiction and reap the benefits.

Now, the big questions is: Can Facebook turn their new advertising model into Google's AdSense? My answer: No way. I smell a bit of desperation here. Facebook was developed with the user in mind and they never thought about a real advertising model, a model that could make Mark Zuckerberg a real billionaire, instead of a paper billionaire.

Nick Carr says it best:

"Facebook, which distinguished itself by being the anti-MySpace, is now determined to out-MySpace MySpace. It's a nifty system: First you get your users to entrust their personal data to you, and then you not only sell that data to advertisers but you get the users to be the vector for the ads. And what do the users get in return? An animated Sprite Sips character to interact with."

Is it time to write off Facebook? Not quite yet. But they are one of those boxers that win decisively the first round, already pronounced the winner until the opening bell of the second round rings and they get hit hard in the head.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Can they come back? I wouldn't bet on it. There are many young fighters out there, waiting for their chance. They are hungrier, will learn from this mistake and don't get sucked in by reading and believing their own clippings.