Fake users and an angry developer -- Facebook's bad week

02.08.2012
With its stock still slumping, Facebook executives were faced with not one but two other pieces of tough news this week.

Just as an angry third-party developer blasted Facebook's alleged high-handed negotiation tactics in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company also reported that about 83 million of its user accounts are fake.

"Any one thing isn't so bad but the cumulative effect is terrible," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research. "Why would any investor put more money into them? This was certainly a strange situation and it makes you wonder how many skeletons might be out there."

The trouble started Wednesday when startup entrepreneur Dalton Caldwell, co-founder of such sites as iMeem and PicPlz, posted on his blog an to Zuckerberg accusing him of bullying practices.

Caldwell said he demoed an iOS app that he had built on the platform. He said he was looking for support for his upcoming product launch.

That's not what he said he got.