Investors: Do you ever get fooled at "social media and technology" conferences?

[Mike Clarkson]

I just got back from a presentation detailing "the next big social media craze". In other words, he spent 2 hours talking about technology and "bringing people together" without ever clearly showing how is project would make sense. When I asked him a question about how he thinks his project(a website, effectively) can compete in an already(and increasingly) super-saturated technology industry, he shrugged my skepticism off and went onto explain how his website was some unique little entity that would revolutionize society.

My question is, do many investors usually get fooled into thinking projects like these actually work? Does anyone really believe the phrase, "social media", means anything anymore? It's a ambiguous phrase that can mean anything to anyone, and ranks up close to "awesome" or "problem-solver". Please tell me that all investors aren't so ignorant to the state of technology that they'd be willing to gamble their money on the social media bandwagon.

[Tolemac]

Facebook floated at 30 billion and nearly halved in value within 3 months.

Never under-estimate the stupidity and greed of the market.

In year 2000, all you needed was a website address and an overly optimistic business plan and investors would throw money at you.

In 2013, with austerity and cutbacks all over the place, investors are just looking for safe havens to protect their money against rampant inflation that is set to explode because of all the money printing going on.

The market rarely initiates growth, it always jumps on a bandwagon. Your social network guy is appealing to a market badly stung by Facebook. He may snag a few suckers but if he isn't already pulling in the bucks, I'd give him a wide berth...