Facebook buying Instagram for $1 billion!

[sheldor]

http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-search-engine-2012-03

[X]

Like my mom says. Some people are just born dumb. I mean it takes a brass pair to complain about something that you are getting for free that is done by people that actually need to feed their families and get paid for their work.

[Bryancd]

But I thought the internet was a God given right! ;) I too get amused when people get all upset of stuff they get for free and use all the time and then develop a misplaced sense of ownership. Instagram is a business looking to create profit for those who created it. Done deal. FaceBook, for the moment, has become so huge and ubiquitous that the idea that some users who may get upset about their acquisition and or ownership of Instagram is of zero consequence to them. It's like Apple, they are the only game in town until they f'up, which can certainly happen anytime, just not this time.

Now, do I think FB way over paid? Maybe and only time and their future growth and future equity valuation will tell. Perhaps they felt they needed to make this acquisition before a competitor could and they were a motivated buyer. That is likely the case.

[Rico]

I don't use Instagram a lot - or even Facebook for that matter.  If they both went away tomorrow or if the whole planet was using them it wouldn't matter much to me.  But free or not, my comments have just been my perceptions based on the fleeting nature of some of these apps that people use.  If you guys don't really think that these companies respond to user opinions and comments then I think you are incorrect.  These companies make money off the people that use these services.  They have to at some point or maybe you can explain to me how they will continue to stay in business?  Facebook obviously saw a way to tap into a user base of data and information.  "Oh look, Bryan posts pictures of bikes - he must be a cyclist.  Let's shoot him some ads for bikes."  Like I said earlier in this thread I'm really starting to think some of these companies are operating on a dangerous house of cards that could tumble down very easily if people move away from their products - "free or not."

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I don't use Instagram a lot - or even Facebook for that matter.  If they both went away tomorrow or if the whole planet was using them it wouldn't matter much to me.  But free or not, my comments have just been my perceptions based on the fleeting nature of some of these apps that people use.  If you guys don't really think that these companies respond to user opinions and comments then I think you are incorrect.  These companies make money off the people that use these services.  They have to at some point or maybe you can explain to me how they will continue to stay in business?  Facebook obviously saw a way to tap into a user base of data and information.  "Oh look, Bryan posts pictures of bikes - he must be a cyclist.  Let's shoot him some ads for bikes."  Like I said earlier in this thread I'm really starting to think some of these companies are operating on a dangerous house of cards that could tumble down very easily if people move away from their products - "free or not."

Pretty much what Rico said.  No company can live without its customers and if FB and all these other companies continue to ignore their userbase, they will one day, sooner rather than later, find themselves dead in the water.  Especially on the internet when options can be made available. 

@Al, yes, for now you don't have to post to FB but many worry that you will be forced to whether you like it or not.  Its happened before with recent acquisitions by Facebook and yeah, I don't trust big tech companies like FB to keep their word forever. 

King

[Bryancd]

Agree 100% in regards to the "house of cards".What I am positing is that the vast, and I really mean vast with a capital "V", users of these services have no clue about the kind of data mining and stealth marketing that is going on with social media companies. And for now, they just don't care. We do, people who really understand how this technology works do, but the vast majority don't...yet. This is the same reason why Apple has managed to dominate the portable/personal technology market. Because it just works and does the limited few things the vast majority of people want to do with their technolgy.