http://allfacebook.disqus.com/enMon, 12 Nov 2007 12:03:12 -0000http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/11/facebook-to-acquire-ilike-and-flixster/#comment-1638518well, they could be acquired for stock perhaps, and maybe some cash but not all-cash deal for sure.<br><br>but i'm not sure FB has to do those deals, or whether they even make sense. both companies are valuable, but FB probably gets more bang for its buck acquiring companies with horizontal benefit to the entire platform, rather than vertical communities that only benefit a particular area.<br><br>ideally, FB should figure out a way to let *all* apps in a vertical benefit from being on FB platform, and share/create revenue / benefits with them &amp; advertisers.<br><br>otherwise, acquiring companies will alienate the others in that segment. of course it's not a bad idea to do acquisitions that add lots of value to your users, but as soon as that happens they're basically declaring that vertical dead to other competition... not such a great strategy for a platform, unless the vertical is completely played out.<br><br>much more important for FB to figure out a shared-benefit monetization strategy more than they need to acquire vertical platform winners. acquiring search or advertising or payment technology makes a lot more sense than vertical apps.<br><br>my .02 anyway,<br><br>- dave mcclure<br> <a href="http://500hats.typepad.com" rel="nofollow">http://500hats.typepad.com</a>davemc500hatsMon, 12 Nov 2007 12:03:12 -0000