That afternoon we had seen a sharp interview between journalist Siegler and the young Kevin Systrom , boss of Instagram , which was sold to Facebook this year for a billion dollars . The conversation was a welcome distraction from the sometimes very obligatory and uncritical product presentations and superficial interrogations. Actually, an interview with MG Siegler, columnist for TechCrunch , always goes well. The interview was about the power struggle between Twitter – Facebook's major competitor – and Instagram. Since the takeover, Instagram – undoubtedly with unfriendly coercion from Facebook – has been hindering tweeters who want to share photos. How childish can it be. New walls are being built, and less is being shared. A protectionist war between brats who have walked in. Money and power need little time to drive out ideals. The young Systrom behaves like an old man.
The older –with respect- woman Kroes preached the credo of the younger. The young list to data Systrom became an old man and the Israeli behaved as he was: old. Age is a relative concept and LeWeb 2012 was educational. As usual.
Meaningful spending of a hundred million
One more thing. It was an urgent request from Neelie Kroes to Loïc Le Meur to help her with a sensible spending of the hundred million. Why not open a platform within Frankwatching where suggestions are collected, discussed and commented on with the aim of inviting her in the first quarter of 2013 or to go to her office in Brussels . Neelie challenged Loïc three times during her interview to come up with recommendations to help her with her plans. Afterwards I spoke to her briefly. The suggestion to continue the discussion via Frankwatching was more than welcome. “Please do. Come up with suggestions. I will make time for it.”
This column was also published in Het Financieele Dagblad .