Can children of divorced parents keep both of them equally involved in their lives through Facebook?
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With Google worth more than $200 billion based on nearly $29 billion in revenue last year, and Facebook worth $50 to $70 billion based on less then $2 billion in revenue last, it’s easy to call Facebook’s current valuation hype. Why then would so many investors be willing to purchase a stake in Facebook for so much? We take a look.
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Last night, Facebook announced that it would temporarily remove the ability for developers to request home addresses as well as phone numbers from users, signaling a new policy in responding to public criticism. The company’s next steps will prove most critical. Here are our suggestions for how to handle them.
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If there is to be a time in Facebook’s history when it will be remembered at its prime, 2011 may turn out to be that time. Expected to surge past 600 million members, and possibly 700 million before year end; revenue expected to grow beyond $3 billion this year; a valuation of $50 billion and growing; and its once only domestic competitor on the verge of implosion, Facebook appears to be unstoppable.
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Facebook’s second annual “memology” study is upon us, and while world news held a strong presence (along with an unintentionally divisive pop star), ultimately the most repeated word across status updates was…. an acronym.
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Facebook has long been a platform that generated instant successes through the viral growth of previously unheard of applications. However over time Facebook has systematically dialed down the viral communication channels (invites, requests, notifications, feed publishing, etc), each change stunting the growth of previously successful developers. With each change comes a new strategy, and the latest one appears to be best aligned with Facebook’s goals: reengagement.
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There has been years of hype over location-based social networks, however so far that’s all it has been: hype. Now Foursquare, Facebook, and others have rolled out deals platforms which enable businesses to incentivize consumers to shop based on offers. The one thing that I keep thinking though, is that coupons never incentivized me to shop somewhere.
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If there’s anything to take away from today’s announcement from Facebook, it’s that the company has not released a direct competitor to Gmail or any other messaging provider. Instead, Facebook’s Social Inbox is a messaging platform for interacting with the people you care about.
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By now it has become well known that Google is planning a competitor to Facebook. While many believe that it may be too little too late for Google, the reality is that it’s a matter of survival for the company at this point. Google’s automated algorithms have become inefficient in that their systems are somewhat easy to game and despite Marissa Mayer once claiming that search is 90 percent solved, the reality is that it isn’t anywhere close.
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Remember when MySpace was crashing all the time and the stupid Pac Man game was showing up because the site was “overloaded” with traffic? Even if you weren’t a MySpace user back then, all you need to know is the frequency of MySpace going down due to technical issues was one of the main reasons Facebook was so successful. Facebook has been able to keep the site up despite the rapid growth in traffic, however with the company’s new questions product, Facebook doesn’t look as much like an original technological innovator.
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