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Yes but FB has the advantage of everyone knowing what it is/does. That is very rare, if I didn't know what FB was I would see that page and immediately leave because it tells me nothing about their service.

It's great for FB but would be horrible for just about any other product or service.

Snapchat is in a similar position:

https://www.snapchat.com/

When I look at that, I think "Worst landing page ever...what the hell does it do, why should I bother, and how do I get it?" But then, if I have to ask those questions...I've probably missed the point, and SnapChat would be useless to me. The whole point is for it to spread virally, so a landing page is pointless.

What's FB?

When Facebook started out they didn't say very much about what they did, too: http://stradegyadvertising.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/th...

This is so true... and clear.

I have always wondered if that page worked cold. That is, someone got convinced to sign up by that page and didn't go there already convinced to sign up.