Stay The Course, Facebook. Even If Your Share Price Crashes

Ignore us. Ignore the pressure from the media and Wall Street to make more money now as lockups expire and your stock price dips to new lows. The only thing you need to remember is “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected.” That’s your leader Mark Zuckerberg in his pre-IPO letter to the world.

I say this because I worry you may be veering off course in a fit of desperation to please investors. This week you announced two new ad units that give businesses unprecedented access to the news feed. They pose grave threats to the user experience and your ability to accomplish your mission of bringing us all closer together.

Huge wave of Facebook shares to hit market starting this week

Less than two weeks after Facebook’s stock price hit a low of $20.84 comes the reminder that about two billion more shares will hit the market between now and May, 2013.

How Facebook Could Save Its Shattered Share Price

If Facebook’s share price continues to plummet, it’s going to have a lot tougher time signing and retaining the top talent who can answer its big questions. It needs more revenue, or at least clear ways of generating it to persuade investors. But payments aren’t growing anymore, and its current ads aren’t enough.

It can’t wait to set the money-making wheels in motion. It needs decisive action, immediately. Here’s my breakdown of exactly what Facebook needs to do next if it wants to start clawing its way from $20 back to its $38 IPO price.

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