So what does Sean Parker really think about Facebook, the company that netted him some $2 billion following its recent public offering?
It’s a snooze.
That’s what Parker told an audience of journalists, celebrities and well-wishers at the launch of his new Facebook-powered video-chatting service Airtime earlier this week.
"Facebook isn’t helping you make new connections, Facebook doesn’t develop new relationships, Facebook is just trying to be the most accurate model of your social graph,” Parker said, according to Bloomberg. “There’s a part of me that feels somewhat bored by all of this."
The whole point was to contrast Facebook to his new company Airtime, which allows people to chat with both strangers and friends. Parker said he hopes Airtime will “restore surprise and serendipity to the Internet."
Still, it underscores a complaint that seems to be shared by many Facebook users, who according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll are using the site less than they once were. Thirty-four percent of the over 1,000 user surveyed said they were now spending less time on Facebook than they had six months ago.
It's also hardly the first time Parker has panned his former employer.
Parker criticized the social network for not doing enough to manage the deluge of (often irrelevant) information that bombards its users, whose friend groups have expanded over the years (a complaint we share).
“I think Facebook’s biggest problem is the glut of information that Facebook’s power users are overwhelmed with… [Facebook] needs to address the need of power users to have more controls,” Parker said last year.
Despite the jab, Parker actually defended the social network against an analyst's prediction Facebook would be history by 2020.
"Facebook is such a basic utility. It's something that is such a part of peoples' lives, I think it's hard to imagine it going away," Parker said.
It might make Facebook feel a bit better about Parker's whole "you're a snooze" dis to know that by Parker's own definition, he's no longer cool.
"I think being a wealthy member of the establishment is the antithesis of cool." Parker told the FT in an interview last year. "Being a countercultural revolutionary is cool. So to the extent that you’ve made a billion dollars, you’ve probably become uncool.”
Weigh in: Do you think Facebook is boring?