Dear Web 2.0: You Might Want to Stop Believin’
by Kara Swisher
Posted on October 9, 2008 at 2:14 PM PT
All in good fun, right?
I am sure this will be the dumb-as-a-box-of-hammers reasoning this group of Web 2.0 folks gives for this odd video effort, doing a lip-synch romp on their group vacation in Cyprus to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and then posting it for all to see on Vimeo.
It is titled: “20 world Internet citizens met in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in October of 2008 for a week of reflections on life, love, and the Internet.”
Um, kids, here’s a reflection: While you swim in that pricey infinity pool in your luxury villa, Silicon Valley is tanking all over the place. You might want to check your email and see if Sequoia Capital or Ron Conway has cost-cutted you out of a job!
Oh, sorry, BoomTown’s karma is so negative, isn’t I?
But the video gave me flashbacks to heedless-partying-until-the-bomb-fell attitude before the popping of the Web 1.0 bubble. It obviously still burns.
The group rollicking includes Blip.tv’s Mike Hudack, Facebook’s Dave Morin, Drop.io’s Sam Lessin and–well, um, eek, bad idea, awkward!–tech reporter Jessica Vascellaro of The Wall Street Journal.
Here is the video:
UPDATE: Apparently, the makers of the video have made it private on Vimeo and blocked it on YouTube, likely due to the reaction to it, but you can see it here.
Comments
Matching swimsuits, nice touch ladies! And did I see more than I cared to when one of the guys was running up the stairs in his swimsuit? Thank goodness for low-resolution video
I’m not one to begrudge anyone their fun, but agree that (as they say) “the optics” on this are unfortunate.
Dan
Posted by Dan Callahan at October 9th, 2008 at 3:38 pmI am embarrased for them as humans……
Posted by Jim Valker at October 9th, 2008 at 4:46 pmDan:
Unfortunately, given this is a family site, you did!
Yes, life is all about the optics!
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 9th, 2008 at 5:29 pmJim:
But what about as Web 2.0ers?
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 9th, 2008 at 5:30 pmah, the “heedless partying till the bomb fell” was so much easier pre-mortgage…kids, i say you should party like it is 1999, worse comes to worst there’s always law school!
Posted by Paul Marcum at October 9th, 2008 at 6:23 pmPaul:
Law school? Now the end times are nigh!
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 9th, 2008 at 8:47 pmoh puh-leez kara… if you see Angelo Mozilo partying hard this week, then yes he SHOULD be ashamed (same goes for the AIG execs who ran up a $400K spa bill while Uncle Sam was bailing their asses out).
but Facebook employees on vacation? c’mon, lighten up.
yeah it’s gonna be tough in silicon valley for next few years, but FB will do just fine.
Posted by dave mcclure at October 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pmDave:
Ah, distraction as a tactic.
AIG spa-going=Appalling.
Dumb dot-com-flappers-on-holiday video=Keep it to yourself, for appearance’s sake alone.
As to FB, thank goodness for all that cash from Microsoft and the Hong Kong billionaire!
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 10th, 2008 at 1:34 amFB could have raised plenty of money, tho perhaps not at $15B from anyone but Mr. Softie.
i agree the dude who screwed the pooch on that one was Li Ka-Shing (or should i say Li *not* Ka-Shing). and i think there were some Germans in that last round too. but all of the earlier investors are sitting pretty.
even Microsoft got a seat at the Web 2.0 table, and an option on the future. probably too expensive, but WTF they’ve got billions left over.
arguably, Facebook probably should have raised money at something around a $5B valuation instead of $15B, if only to make it easier to hire Googlers who might raise an eyebrow at their options… but hey, given the current market it doesn’t look like hiring is gonna be a problem anymore
Posted by dave mcclure at October 10th, 2008 at 2:45 amDave:
Yes, WTF! That’s the attitude to take now!
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 10th, 2008 at 4:30 amUmm, is anyone appalled that a WSJ reporter is partying with the people she’s covering? I know it’s hard not to mix business and pleasure, but one mention of her BF’s startup could give it an unfair advantage (oh wait, that already happened ..)
Posted by Bob Jones at October 10th, 2008 at 3:23 pmWhat ever happed to conflict of interest? Or at the least, disclosing it like Kara does.
Bob:
I don’t mind the going on vacation part, because it would be hard to separate a legitimate personal life from work, in this case, although I do take a lot of time deciding on what events to go to Megan with and which ones I should not.
Being in the video, as I wrote, was probably the bad judgment part.
But I love clear disclosure at all times, because at least it alerts readers and gives them a chance to make their own judgments.
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 12th, 2008 at 3:06 pmi dunno kara… when you and arrington both agree on something, i definitely think it’s a sign of the Apocalypse.
i stand by my initial reaction: fun video made by some folks who looked like they were having a great time on vacation.
save the venom for the folks who blew up our financial system, not a bunch of geeks having a good time.
Posted by dave mcclure at October 13th, 2008 at 8:59 amDave:
Oh, Dave, they’re next!
Still, deeply bad timing and judgment.
Posted by Kara Swisher at October 15th, 2008 at 2:03 am