"BLERG." -- Mark Cuban. (Photo: flickr.com/yoderbaum)
What must Facebook do to placate Mark Cuban? First, the Dallas Mavericks owner complained the company's push for promoted posts was driving brands away. But now that the social network has introduced a new pages feed, he still isn't happy. This morning--at 1:18 a.m., to be precise--he published a blog post with the teasing title of, "What I Really Think About Facebook." Short versions: Drop the chairs and the "only connect" nonsense and admit it's just a great, honking waste of time. So of course fans of the Dallas Mavericks Facebook page want to see every incidental update!
First, Mr. Cuban points out what Facebook has to say about how Newsfeed, Engagement and Promoted Posts work and why they filter the firehose. "FB believes that their news feed is an engaging information source. They seem to really, really want to make sure that you get the information that is most engaging to you," he writes. "I honestly didn’t know this." (Emphasis decidedly his.)
This inspires Mr. Mav to take issue with Facebook's sense of itself:
FB is what it is. Its a time waster. That’s not to say we don’t engage, we do. We click, share and comment because it’s mindless and easy. But for some reason FB doesn’t seem to want to accept that it’s best purpose in life is as a huge time suck platform that we use to keep up with friends, interests and stuff. I think that they are over thinking what their network is all about .
Over-thinking it? The company that tried to make a commercial but ended up waxing poetic about chairs? Never.
Besides, it's not like being a delightful waste of everyone's precious time on earth is anything to be ashamed of:
Being a time suck that people enjoy is a good thing. There is a comfort in turning on the TV and having it work without any thought required. It’s easy. It is the best 5 hour on average per day alternative to boredom.
Somehow, we can't imagine that line of thinking plays very well in the Valley.
But what does this have to do with promoted posts and the fact users don't see every update from the Mavericks? Ah, yes: "IMHO, FB really risks screwing up something that is special in our lives as a time waster by thinking they have to make it more engaging and efficient."
Just imagine--we might all have to move to Twitter.