Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick appeared yesterday on Bloomberg TV to comment on Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction to angry investors at Facebook’s first shareholder meeting. Kirkpatrick asserts that Facebook’s formidable reach will ultimately bolster its long-term outlook, citing the use of Facebook by organizers of protests in Turkey as an example of the social network’s pervasiveness. Zuckerberg’s involvement in the FWD.us campaign for immigration reform, says Kirkpatrick, reinforces how Facebook “has put itself at the center of global developments.”
But can the company turn around its Wall Street fortunes by figuring out a way to monetize mobile ads? Kirkpatrick says yes, arguing that users want ads to help them discover things that are useful to them. But Porter Bibb, managing partner at Mediatech Capital Partners, disagrees, saying that the company hasn’t figured out how to get over the advertising hurdle, and Facebook Home has gained little momentum. “Mark Zuckerberg may be in over his hoodie,” quips Bibb.
