"I own 57%. My way or the highway."

“Before I begin, let me remind you that I own 57% of the voting stock of Facebook, which means I have complete control over it. I organized the company this way many years ago, with the very deliberate intention of maintaining complete control over it. I did this so I wouldn’t get overruled and canned by venture capitalists, a fate that unfortunately befalls many entrepreneurs. I also did it so in the event that we ever had to go public—which we unfortunately have to do now—I would never have to pay attention to whiny short-term public shareholders. Those whiny short-term public shareholders have destroyed many great companies by making management obsess about absurd near-term financial targets. I have made sure that that’s never going to happen to Facebook. If there ever comes a day when you and I disagree about the future direction of the company, rest assured: Your choice will be my way or the highway.”

An excerpt from Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter To Shareholders, via Business Insider. Read more: http://read.bi/NMBvnj

I made a promise to myself about 8 months back that I would stop talking about “the social web” on social media. It just seemed too insular. I am going to break that pact with myself here. You should take 10 minutes and read Henry Blodget’s breakdown of Mark Zuckerberg’s Letter To Shareholders.  The article really describes just how online businesses are changing the rules and norms of traditional business.  Whether it be user rights or shareholder rights, we seem perfectly happy to let them push for change, and in fact, we jump on board, right up until it doesn’t go the way the “traditional market” wanted it to go or assumed it would. Then, all hell breaks loose.

The web is still young in many ways, only emerging into the mainstream in the mid-nineties, and I am not going to predict what will become of the Facebook “movement.”  As we hear so much about the decline in use and the issues with it in schools (its initial purpose, remember) we also have to consider that they still have 955 million users and growing.  That must count for something, no?

That said, the marketplace keeps dipping its financial foot into new-business-model waters, and then pulling out for more traditional models when things get a little too warm or the tide changes.  At that point, they retreat to basic conversions from traditional offline and digital delivery systems instead of moving with the tide.  They do all this while still expecting the same offline rules will stay and apply, which is never the case, and never will be the case.

This is an excellent time to examine just how far new media, social networks and web businesses have come, and what they will and will not give up to be part of the so-called traditional marketplace. We cannot say that we totally agree with Zuckerberg’s Letter To Shareholders, but it sure does have some great philosophies and goals.  He clearly lets you know that he never wanted to go this route and does not believe it is the path to success. Facebook was never intended to be a company, and his end goal is to maintain Facebook’s original social mission.  Nothing more, nothing less.

So many business and industries are being effected by the online business trend, from commerce, to banking, to music and entertainment.  Many of the traditional companies in these industries have not yet found their footing. It’s no stretch to think that Zuckerberg feels that social networks and mobile are still in their infancy as well, and that this is just the beginning of the bigger user change.

It’s going to be an interesting time for investors and traditional markets, the financial supporters of this future tsunami, as more and more users migrate away from the traditional channels and move to integrated digital (desktop, laptop, table, smartphone, in car and other, as-yet unexplored screens.) The relationships formed across these screens are not tied to traditional business models, but they will continue to define the market.

The big question is, will time help bridge the gap between the investors’ returns and the everyday user’s expectations?  In the case of Facebook specifically, Zuckerberg is quite clear about this: the only thing he has given us is the permission to come along for the ride. We expect it will not be a boring one.

It will continue to be a very interesting period while traditional and digital business models find their bearings in the years to come.  In the meantime, the following make for some great additional reading on this topic.

Business Insider’s Henry Blodget breaks down what Zuckerberg’s Letter to Stakeholders means for investors and business.
On Fortune’s Finance blog, Roger Ehrenberg discusses the relationship between IPO investors and a company, specific to the Facebook case.
The Wall Street Journal’s Shayndi Raice takes a look at the stock’s plummeting value and its implications, including for Facebook employees.

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