Facebook: $950 Mil in Hand Worth More than $3Bil in Sky

It came up colloquially, however i feel I’m the sole person at my company to possess primary expertise as a user of Facebook.com. it had been reasonably funny to possess of these on-line advertising professionals asking American state all concerning the web site everyone utilized in faculty.  Didn’t they get the memo?  I’m new.  I ought to be asking the queries around here. the topic of Facebook.com is an interesting one that’s worth a closer look.

Without question 2005 was the year of MySpace.  Before Rupert Murdoch’s $580 million social networking venture took the interactive world by storm, it’s difficult to believe that even the most optimistic of the billionaire’s lackeys would have predicted that new acquisition would more than quadruple its reach within a matter of months.  With 23.5 billion page views by February, MySpace became the second most trafficked site on the Internet.  

Murdoch’s success naturally generated buying interest in anything deemed online social networking.  One proposed deal in March 2006, was Viacom’s unsuccessful $750 million bid for Facebook.com, the phenomenon started by wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg.  After Facebook.com declined the offer, its founders pegged Facebook.com’s worth at two billion dollars. maybe the sensible sparks from MySpace’s success has unsighted Facebook.com to the flipside reality of Friendster’s paradise lost.  There’s a true likelihood Facebook won’t see a suggestion this generous once more.  

Facebook.com is basically a web medium of communication for school students and high schoolers.  For its valued reach Zuckerberg and his crew of Harvard dropouts (taking their cue from William Henry Gates, no doubt) should be searching for Google-sized compensation, however the 2 billion dollar figure is unfair and troublesome to justify. maybe Facebook is bold by their own wise call in not marketing to Yahoo for $15 million in 2004.  

Zuckerberg was doubtless making an attempt to ascertain a value for his creation, not associate degree unwise pass on the face of things.  However, Viacom’s provide wasn't by any stretch of the imagination pocket modification and also the range of entities which will and can double the bid Facebook already got is finite.   

Facebook’s traffic numbers, as documented on Alexa.com, throughout the last 3 months don't seem to be encouraging; that's, if the goal is to fish for a lot of and larger acquisition bids.  The numbers even have trended downward since March, anathema for engaging hyper bidding growth.  These decreasing statistics may be a minimum of partly attributed to the alternate nature of the college year since Facebook, after all, is in gear towards the faculty student.  It doesn’t matter however nice the merchandise is, it won’t keep students from doing their own issue throughout summer vacation and this yearly dip is probably damaging.  

Seeing as how briskly on-line fads will expand and consent social networking as we’ve seen in its short time span, what if the numbers don’t come back back?  What if one thing new pops up in 2 months that steals Facebook’s thunder?  (And, again, MySpace’s success is smart reason why this thunder is price stealing.)  

Facebook.com’s success has conjointly been marred with some difference that might taint its quality with students.  At Syracuse University a flap over freedom of expression ensued once a Facebook.com cluster went overboard in critiquing a college student and finished up with expulsions from the category and social suspension before 3 students transferred. once Penn State’s eleven beat Ohio State this year students hurried the sphere and created a rumpus. inundated police created solely 2 arrests that day, however later within the week they logged onto Facebook.com and, like Canadian Mounties World Health Organization invariably get their man, got lots of names and faces and photos from the information announce by students concerning their on-field shenanigans. children speak and these stories unfold like conflagration, which can have an effect on Facebook.com negatively – they can’t management misuse of their product and also the negative repercussions that come back from it.   

The future is promising for the social networking business house and that i don’t believe Facebook.com is doomed.  Still, given the character of passing and over-hyped dotcoms, Facebook could have reached their growth climax this academic year, with risk for growth and success solely dependent on acquisition.  Time might not air their aspect as a result of because the pages of the calendar flip there'll doubtlessly be new fads and trends that may threaten to form one thing else the “Next massive Thing” at Facebook.com’s expense.   The clock is ticking.