There are two schools of thought about Twitter’s decision not to sell itself to Facebook, as it did not in the fail-whale of a deal that BoomTown reported on yesterday.

Here’s my favorite quote from an Internet exec who thought the microblogging service’s decision to turn down $500 million in stock (and some cash) in the hot social-networking site was–how can I put this delicately?–stupid:

“If Twitter turned down 500m in stock, they should go see a shrink.”

But, others disagreed, with another big Web player noting: “Why should Twitter hitch itself to Facebook’s horse, when they don’t have too?”

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Last week, one of the things that struck me about the coverage of the two main tech conferences devoted to start-ups, DEMOfall and TechCrunch50, was the almost complete lack of discussion–or, more appropriately, worry–about the troubled economy.

This, even though the subprime mortgage crisis remains in full swing, along with the continuing turmoil around the stability of Wall Street financial firms, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Also, let’s not forget those sky-high gas prices.

The situation has worsened this past weekend with more dangerous developments in the financial sector, which eventually means that the popular Web 2.0 maxim of “growth before profits” is also in for a very bumpy ride.

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According to sources, Facebook is moving to eliminate its observer status slot from its board. That position is currently held by Greylock Partners David Sze.

The reasons might be as simple as the fact that as Facebook grows, it needs a more formal board process, especially as it prepares for a public offering sometime in the future.

In that case, the observer slot might be eliminated, as the company moves to add more members to the board.

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Since I posted an interview with Social Gaming Network’s Shervin Pishevar today on the announcement of his $15 million funding, it seems only sporting to post this lively video interview I also did with his main competitor, Mark Pincus of Zynga, recently too.

Zynga, named after Pincus’s dog, is one of the two main social-gaming networks that are competing for audience by offering highly interactive games of all kinds. Its aim is to be more engaging and create a series of addictive games that users will return to again and again.

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Silicon Valley luminary Marc Andreessen has been asked to join the board of Facebook, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation.

While the arrangement is not completed yet, sources said the longtime entrepreneur has verbally agreed to accept the post to become the fourth member of the board of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based social-networking site.

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Here are two articles from The Wall Street Journal’s online site you might have missed in your holiday stupor.

One looks at the newfound fervor in India for Lord Balaji (pictured here), an incarnation of the Hindu Lord Vishnu, because of his apparent pull in getting adherents visas to the U.S. and other Western countries. Well, [...]

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What a slimy mess the “Here Comes Another Bubble” is leaving in its wake as it travels all over the Web.
Today, Daryl Lang of PDNPulse, a blog from Photo District News, reported that it contacted more photographers whose pictures were used in the popular Web 2.0-mocking video by the San Francisco-based singing group, the [...]

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The take-down of the popular Web 2.0 music video, “Here Comes Another Bubble,” didn’t last too long. The Richter Scales, a San Francisco singing group that did the piece, have posted a new one–Version 1.1–that it hopes is copyright safe.
They have a full list of credits here and also on the video, and have a [...]

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So, it turns out YouTube actually can protect copyright!
In this case, that’s too bad, since the video-sharing service just took down the very popular music video parody called “Here Comes Another Bubble,” by San Francisco’s Richter Scales, which we first posted here and which has taken off like wildfire around the Web.
The video opens, in [...]

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I ran into Richter Scales’ Tom Shields at a conference this morning in Mountain View, Calif., and he told me about the video takedown by YouTube of the popular “Here Comes Another Bubble.”
The music video parody by the San Francisco singing group has wowed the Web.
I posted about the removal here.
Shields defends the use of [...]

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Sung to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” this music video by the San Francisco-based Richter Scales is pure genius.
And so, as the song asks, we sure will blog about it (plus it uses our interview with Facebook investor Peter Thiel, also below, at the start).
In fact, it’s an honor to, [...]

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Fortune had an interesting article by Jeffrey M. O’Brien on the links between and among the various alumni of the PayPal online payment service, focusing on the Mafia-like aspects of their affiliation.
Actually, after reading it, with all the silly sniping among some of them (now all apparently resolved), it sounded to me more like the [...]

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In case you missed them, check out these stories from last week:
Kara Visits VC Peter Thiel: A video interview with the first investor in Facebook, who also sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion. Thiel’s take: Web 2.0 is underhyped! Writers’ Strike!: The battle is on in Hollywood, as writers and studios fight over DVD fees split, but there is also wrangling over potential profits from new media efforts.

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What can we say about investor Peter Thiel, when it is much better to listen to him talk?

Here’s a longish video I made at Thiel’s office on San Francisco’s Presidio (no Sand Hill Road mundanity for Peter!) yesterday with the man who has become Silicon Valley’s most interesting venture capitalist and all-around great character of [...]

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Since we are refraining from writing about the current deals being mulled over by Facebook (see this post and also this disclosure)–one for its international ad business with rivals Google and Microsoft vying for the privilege of losing money in a guaranteed revenue deal and another to complete a mega-round of funding that will value [...]

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