Facebook as a Case Study in the Selfish Social Media Bubble
The spending culture at Facebook, just as we suspected, adds more evidence that this is a seflish social media bubble, which has kept its money relatively contained -- for good and ill -- to the tech world. Facebook millionaires don't spend like other millionaires, as The New York Times's Somini Sengupta reports in her write-up of the "Reticient Rich." Taking a look at the wealth Facebook has created, Sengupta describes a culture that derides conspicuous consumption. "It’s almost an unspoken rule: spend your money, but do it privately," an anonymous source told Sengupta. Showcasing extreme wealth is such a touchy subject, the Times had to keep most of its sources anonymous. (Really?) As we've discussed before, unlike other bubbles, this one has stayed pretty contained money-wise. This nouveau-riche isn't spending like crazy. Thanks to Sengupta, we get an inside view of how and why this phenomenon is happening.
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Spending Money Is Not Cool
Because hoodie wearing Zuck says so: "it is understood, say Facebook employees and their friends, that Mr. Zuckerberg would find it uncool for one of his underlings to drive a Lamborghini to the office," writes Sengupta.
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Really, they make fun of each other for it: "If someone buys a fancy car and posts a picture of it, they get ridiculed and berated," one of those insider sources told Sengupta.
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Therefore It Happens Underground
Literally: Sheryl Sandberg is building a mostly underground,hidden from view mansion in Menlo Park, says Sengupta.
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Or, in secret, like this: "Fabulous home theaters are tucked into the basements of plain suburban houses. Bespoke jeans that start at $1,200 can be detected only by a tiny red logo on the button. The hand-painted Italian bicycles that flash across Silicon Valley on Saturday mornings have become the new Ferrari — and only the cognoscenti could imagine that they cost more than $20,000," writes Sengupta.
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Or, modestly, like this: "Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, sets the tone at the company with his trademark rumpled hoodies that display no obvious brand name. He spent $7 million on a large but nondescript home in Palo Alto, a suburb so expensive that even a small, no-frills house easily goes for $1.5 million these days," she adds.
Or, on Other Social Media Endeavors
See: "The one money matter that most Internet millionaires talk about openly is what start-ups they are investing in next," writes Sengupta.
Because of This Mentality
Creating, not consuming, matters: “It is a means to do more, to make more money and ultimately build more,” Ted Zoller, a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation told Sengupta.
Look! These guys are keeping their winnings to themselves, unless they're investing in tech start-ups, which is basically keeping the money to themselves, since they often give money to friends. Just remember, that means less pain for the rest of everyone else later.
