John, this post is on the money. To some extent, Facebook is a victim of timing, I think. It’s a hybrid business, which was digital by intention but analogue in practice.

One could argue it was pushed into an advertising model by investors that couldn’t see any other way. So, ‘pull’, inbound marketing and all the promises of organic reach got shafted.

The one thing that Zuckerberg could do to restore faith in Facebook would be to open up more of its data. A LOT more. The data monopoly it has isn’t helping business, its secrecy is hurting it.

Facebook holds a huge amount of data that doesn’t materially help advertisers but that could be educational for users about how people behave, powerful trend data, and so on, and until that kind of transparency is part of Facebook’s DNA, I don’t think the trust issue will go away.

We can all see user posting rates are dropping off on our timelines compared to the bloat of paid content. If Facebook gets relegated to the status of being a failed ad network, another Friends Reunited, because of Zuckerberg’s lack of courage and vision, it will be because it has been railroaded by VC’s and he was too young to do anything about it.