According to TechCrunch, Mark Andreessen is joining the Board of Directors of Facebook. Announcements will be made this week. Anrdreessen will keep his position as Chairman over at Ning, the group social networking site.
This is a key development for Facebook, Ning, and Andreesen.
Facebook gets a seasoned and highly succesful, yet still relatively young entrepreneurial internet executive in Andreessen. Not too long ago, Andreessen was the darling of Silicon Valley as Zuckerberg is somewhat today.
Andreessen, 36, can lend Zuckerberg, 24, a ton of insight as to how to manage a social technology company that’s serving as a change agent. More specifically, how to manage it through these initial growth stages to maturity.
A problem Facebook has had is its “apologize rather than ask permission” strategy that can backfire. Leaders have to know when and how to do that – and when to hold back.
Facebook’s groups and fan pages also suffer from lack of vitality. Ning specialized in them. Ning, however, completely lacks the panache that Facebook has. I have no idea if a merger or a purchase is in the works, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.
This move once again solidifies Andreessen’s stature as a true player in the business world as well.
