When Zuckerberg Speaks, Facebook Investors Yawn

Just moments ago, Facebook unveiled a new video-sharing option for Instagram. It's the fourth big "product unveiling" the company's had this year, none of which has significantly moved the stock in either direction.

Bloomberg / Getty Images

Earlier today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Systrom, the man behind Instagram, held a big press event to unveil a new product: video sharing on Instagram.

It's not an earth-shattering idea, given that Twitter's side-app Vine has already popularized sharing short-lived videos. Vine's videos last six seconds, while Instagram's have filters, some camera stabilization, and last 15 seconds.

So, it's worth asking the question: Why did Facebook even try to hold a big event for something like this?

In just six months, Facebook has already held four big press events to unveil new products. As a public company, the response can be gauged in two ways: community response and how the markets react.

Facebook's Instagram presser started around 1 p.m. ET. It was already down a bit to begin with.

But even shortly after the unveiling, Facebook's stock took yet a bigger dive. It already felt a lot like a me-too video-sharing service, which, even with Facebook's billion-plus users (and Instagram's 100 million-plus), wasn't all that impressive to investors as a business opportunity.

In reality, the effect of these big "product announcements" has been a kind of mixed bag.

The only major events that Facebook has held that have made much of a difference were a revamped News Feed, which offered a lot of potential for advertisers, and when Zuckerberg spoke at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference late last year, as you can see from the chart above comparing where the stock opened and closed on each day.

In reality, while Zuckerberg has been paying more attention to Facebook's business lately (he has said he's well aware of the poor stock performance), his focus is typically on users. These kinds of events are a good way to reach out to users and get them to pay attention to new products, as there's a lot of overlap with Facebook users and people that read tech news websites.

Still...

nilay patel @reckless

Someone should tell Kevin Systrom that adding video to Instagram does not merit the hushed tones of a preacher in the face of rapture.

05:23 PM - 20 Jun 2013

nilay patel

@reckless

Someone should tell Kevin Systrom that adding video to Instagram does not merit the hushed tones of a preacher in the face of rapture.

Dave Pell @davepell

Facebook and Instagram just gave you a new place to please not share short video clips.

05:23 PM - 20 Jun 2013

Dave Pell

@davepell

Facebook and Instagram just gave you a new place to please not share short video clips.

Gabe Rivera @gaberivera

Systrom's law: the number of seconds in latte videos will 2.5X every 6 months.

05:21 PM - 20 Jun 2013

Gabe Rivera

@gaberivera

Systrom's law: the number of seconds in latte videos will 2.5X every 6 months.

Seriously, Mark, what the heck?

Lee Jae-Won / Reuters