Washington: Internet users expressed split opinions in a wide-ranging debate that questioned whether Mark Zuckerberg is still the right person to lead Facebook Inc.
A Los Angeles Times’ recent story compiled questions that Facebook and Zuckerberg have been facing since going public in May while also shedding light on the fact that people have begun to ask if Zuckerberg should leave the chief executive’s title to someone else. Facebook stock closed below the $20 (Dh73.5) mark for the first time on Thursday after the expiration of a provision that had barred certain investors and insiders, including employees, from trading some of their shares.
The debate over Zuckerberg’s role raged on numerous websites in response to The Times story.
“Mark Zuckerberg resign as FB CEO immediately,” a user on Twitter said, linking to a post calling for Zuckerberg’s resignation. A reader said: “Now time has come when Mark Zuckerberg should step down from the position of CEO and take some more creative responsibility. This is not about hoodie or his appearance in public but its all about Facebook’s failed business model.”
But many are also saying that firing Zuckerberg would be a mistake, even comparing it to Apple’s ousting of Steve Jobs in the 1980s.
“This article is so dumb. Everyone knows that the people that build great products are the ones that should see through their vision,” one person said.
“Zuckerburg is not only quite rightly a bold strong leader with a vision but he also like Steve Jobs is not focused on money — those are the qualities that make great CEOs.”
“LOL! They think it’s the CEO that’s the problem,” a Reddit user said. “Swapping out CEOs has helped companies like AOL, RIM and Yahoo stay afloat so much! I guess that’s how Wall Street justifies paying millions to a person who votes on choices brought to him or her from their team or investors.”
Problem with business model
Others, though, say Zuckerberg isn’t the problem. The Facebook business model is.
“FB needs monster ad revenues to perform and the users who log on could truly care less about ads. It’s of no interest to them — no matter how much you try to hit them over the head with ads, their ONLY concern is what their FB friends are up to,” another person said in a story comment. “Ads simply don’t work in social media. Period!”
“People! This company produces nothing! All it does is sell your personal information to marketers...” another reader said. “Don’t be zombies and just let them earn billions off of you without any compensation.”
Zuckerberg’s past, dramatically depicted in the 2010 feature film The Social Network, prompted some to suggest that his troubles now are karma for his actions in his early 20s.
“Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from the Winklevoss twins,” one reader said. “How this hoodied ego maniac can live himself is beyond me. It is not surprising that FB is tanking.... The kid loves to posture like he is a big CEO but in actuality, he is a lightweight and is relatively unskilled in the business and technology sectors.”
Company’s failure
Some said they would be happy to see Zuckerberg and Facebook fail.
“Any investor who really thought they were going to make a fortune on the stock was an idiot. The company is overvalued even now at half the IPO price,” a Reddit user said.
“Greed. Arrogance. Hubris,” a reader said. “I could not be happier to see Mark Zuckerberg, the Teflon-coated golden boy, finally get what he deserves. He flat-out stole the idea of Facebook from others and got lucky.”
But at least on Facebook, some people remain hopeful.
“Facebook is going to make money, just not as fast as people’s greed wanted!” one person said.
