Gawker: valleywag, superpoke

VH1 and Slide sign deal to create Facebook's killer app — Flavor Flav SuperPokes

Jackson West — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

On Wednesday, Facebook and MySpace users who have installed Slide's near-ubiquitous SuperPoke widget — the one that lets you throw sheep — will be able to send messages branded with characters and slogans from VH1's stable of reality series such as Flavor Flav from Flavor of Love. It's all an effort to promote the new series I Love Money — which, surprisingly, does not star hypercompetitive Slide founder Max Levchin. Who knew?

Slide to stop making Facebook apps

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:20:00 EDT

Slide VP Keith Rabois says the widgetmaker is done making widgets — at least for Facebook. Rabois told SIlicon Alley Insider that Slide wants to focus on improving its existing apps, like SuperPoke and Top Friends. The company also knows it needs to start figuring out how to make enough money to justify its $550 million valuation. Last week, Slide hired AOL's former director of national sales, Jason Bitensky, to head up a new New York office. Money aside, Slide's announcement may be little more than politicking.

Facebook's upcoming redesign eliminates much of the viral growth widgetmakers such as Slide enjoyed during the platform's first year and these developers aren't happy about the changes. Last month an executive at one of the widgetmakers told us this lost enthusiasm for the Facebook platform seriously damaged the company's value.

FB's valuation is driven by the perception it can serve as a platform (or launching pad) for derivative businesses. Without that perception, FB is a $3-5 B company. Period.

Sheryl Sandberg defends Facebook's invisible ads

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:20:00 EDT

Facebook applications don't really do anything special yet. Neither, for that matter, do Facebook's ads. But that's OK, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg insisted yesterday at the D6 conference. Some of the applications, like Slide's SuperPoke, are really popular. Just like Elvis, she says.The comparison fails on two counts.

First, we've listened to Elvis Presley, Ms. Sandberg, and SuperPoke is no Elvis Presley. Second, Elvis was a moneymaker — heck, he still is. The Elvis 30 #1 Hits album, released in 2002, has sold 16 million copies at $15 a pop. Conveniently, that adds up to $240 million — the same amount Microsoft paid for its 1.6 percent stake in Facebook. And what did Microsoft get? A company whose COO still can't articulate what, precisely, Facebook's advertising revolution will look like.

Start a company now, says Max Levchin — so he can buy it

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:20:00 EDT

Slide founder Max Levchin believes Web 2.0 is about to bust. Funding will evaporate and revenues won't materialize; companies will fold and employees will lose their jobs. The lucky few that can will sellout to larger companies. All of which means "this is the perfect time to start a company," Levchin told the Financial Times. Why does Levchin believe this? You know, other than the fact that he's a well-documented masochist who works 15 to 18 hour days and, despite a fear of the water, forced himself through a triathlon?

Because Levchin believes that right now, companies that get it right — get funding, revenues or both — will be able to vacuum up developer talent and smaller, failing companies with useful assets. For example, Slide, which recently raised $50 million, and whose most successful application, SuperPoke, was an acquisition from three Seattle based kids, not an internal development. How convenient if Levchin's theory made it even easier to perform more such maneuvers. And does anyone wonder why he wasn't predicting an impending apocalypse before his company's latest round? All of this seems like it would have been useful information for his new investors. (Photo by flawedartist)

An ode to Super Poke

Megan McCarthy — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:52:27 EDT

Remember when young folk singers with guitars sang songs about love and unrequited love and wrote 63 songs about a their exes? Meet the new generation, who express their emotions for applications on social networks. "What would you do if I Super Poked you? What would you say if I threw a sheep your way?" begins a ditty from YouTube user iamthejoey, who spends the next two minutes and twenty-one seconds convincing her audience to join Facebook and sign up for the Super Poke application by widget maker Slide. (And do it soon, one hopes, before Facebook kneecaps Super Poke once and for all.) For those who choose to stay with a lesser social network? Her reply is one that Palo Alto execs should look into for their next marketing slogan: "You say that you already have a MySpace page, but I say that you're living in the dark age."