Archive for July, 2007

Facebook acquires pre-launch Parakey

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

Facebook has made its first acquisition - Parakey. And yes, you've probably never heard of Parakey, because it pretty much never launched. Parakey was led by Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, the dynamic duo behind the Firefox browser. The start-up was funded in 2006 by Sequoia, and has been ...

ConnectU vs. Zuckerberg Lawsuit still pending

Monday, July 16th, 2007

 VentureBeat and TechCrunch are covering the debate over whether Mark Zuckerberg's litigious squabble with ConnectU could affect Facebook's ability to IPO. VentureBeat says: The most likely worst case for Facebook: Zuckerberg and his investors will agree to settle this for many millions of dollars. Well, not to mention the stain on Zuckerberg's reputation, ...

Facebook Status Update is already 90% of Twitter, with 100,000x the reach

Monday, July 16th, 2007

Twitter is all the rage among the bloggerati, but it's hard to imagine the service taking off in any massively meaningful fashion.  The Facebook Status Update captures most of Twitter's appeal, executed within an even simpler feature. Facebook already has integrated mobile support, RSS support, preference setting, etc.  There isn't much ...

Facebook Lingo of the Day: The Status Update

Monday, July 16th, 2007

THE STATUS UPDATE What it is: A single message you broadcast to all your friends that simply lets them know what you're doing at the exact moment you wrote the message.  This is sort-attention-span-story-telling at its finest. What it’s for:  Describing your mood, letting people know you're out of town, and getting ...

Facebook Lingo of the day: The Poke

Friday, July 13th, 2007

THE POKE What it is: A way to alert someone that you're thinking of them. A poke is just a notification, it doesn't contain its own message. So it's the online equivalent of a smile or wave across a crowded room. What it’s for: Basically flirting. You poke ...

Facebook Rumor: Microsoft trying to buy for $6 Billion - Facebook should ignore

Friday, July 13th, 2007

Henry Blodget and Inside Microsoft debate whether Microsoft should offer $6 Billion for Facebook, and whether Facebook should accept. Should Microsoft be willing to offer $6 Billion?  Yes. Should Facebook accept?  Nope. The company has hit escape velocity right now.  How many companies do you know of that hit this and then subsequently ...

Facebook Investors: We want Facebook startups too!

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Inside Facebook reports Greylock, Accel, and Meritech - investors in Facebook - are also interested in funding new Facebook-related opportunties. Well, as mentioned earlier this week, this makes a ton of sense for these funds. Certainly entrepreneurs would prefer to raise capital from vc's with "insider access." Insider access ...

Facebook Lingo of the day: The Wall

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

THE WALL What it is: The online equivalent of the dry erase board college students put on their dorm-room doors. It's the key component to your public profile. What it's for: Letting everyone know what you've been up to, or leaving messages to a friend that you want other ...

Facebook Malware debuts in the Flyers feature - more to come

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

The Register discovers that fake security pop-ups have made their way into Facebook. You know those annoying system like messages that tell you your computer's been infected? Yep, we've all seen em. Well these prompts have gotten into Facebook, not through the new Apps platform, but through ...

Bay Partners launches AppFactory for Facebook start-ups

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

You knew this would happen at some point. Bay Partners announces they'll be putting aside a few of their millions into AppFactory, which will exclusively fund Facebook Apps start-ups - that is to say, start-ups who's first foot out the door is squarely on the Facebook Platform. So there ...