more cracks in the facebook ‘story’…

You can bet the market will pick up ahead of this Fridays listing of Facebook – the “powers that be” (no not Voldemort!) will ensure that for certain! However, more cracks seem to be appearing in the Facebook story with the WSJ reporting that GM the automaker is to stop paying for on-line ads with Facebook as they “don’t work”. That’s a bit of a bummer if replicated amongst other large corporates as without the ‘story’ of exponential ad growth and thus ‘monetisation’ of all the current free users, well, the shares are running on thin air…

The other ‘surprise’ (not) is the news that the pricing has been raised from $28 – $35 per share to $34 – $38 (as flagged by us this weekend as a likely outcome given the usual Wall Street ‘games’). As a relatively new recruit to Facebook, I must admit that I am perhaps biased in that I fail to soo just what the attraction is of ‘socialising’ in this form relative to good old fashioned personal interaction?

Here’s the 21st century “shoe shine boy” story to muse on –

On Jan. 30, amid reports that Facebook would file for its IPO within days, high school senior Brandon Hyatt scrawled an exuberant message to the online forum of his investment club at Grossmont High School, under the heading “BUY FACEBOOK!!!!”

The note clued technology teacher and club supervisor Todd Benrud into the frenzy that would follow. When the club next met that Wednesday, Mr. Benrud faced some 10 teenagers who thought they could buy shares that day.

Every Monday and Wednesday at lunchtime, Mr. Benrud converts his technology classroom into the trading floor of the Charity Student Investment Project, a nonprofit student-run investment club. A live feed of a financial TV show fills the projection screen. Students each take a computer to research investments for their real-money pool of $2,900.

When Mr. Benrud called an initial vote on whether to pursue Facebook shares, every hand shot up.

Beg’s the question, just who is left to “pick up the parcel” when they list?