Have you ever wondered whether 10 years from now, Facebook will still be there? I have. Turns out that in 2014, two Princeton researches used Google search data and predicted that Facebook would lose 80% of its users within three years (Wakefield, 2014). They even went so far as to compare Facebook with an infectious disease: ‘ideas, like diseases, have been shown to spread infectiously between people before eventually dying out, and have been successfully described with epidemiological models’ (Quirk, 2014). Different sources also confirmed findings of the predicted degrade of Facebook. So, let’s have a look at how Facebook is doing three years later!
In 2012 Facebook went public and had a tough start. However, five years later Facebook has made an incredible turnaround and has become one of the five most valuable companies by market capitalization (Fiegerman, 2017). This may seem strange, since the general feeling around me seems to be that Facebook is slowly going down. However, when you hear Facebook, remember Facebook has acquired a total of 68 companies till date (Toth, 2016). The most well-known are WhatsApp Messenger (2015) and Instagram (2012), so the company is about more than just facebook.com.
One of the things that is viewed key in Facebook keeps proving itself is its adaptability. Not only related to design or features of Facebook itself, but also in terms of business models this seems key. For example, at a recent developer conference Facebook talked about the possibility of turning their additional products (for example Whatsapp or Instagram) from products to platforms, by opening up functionality to developers (Dawson, 2016). Secondly, Facebook has focussed on reaching less mature markets such as Asia.
Do you think Facebook will, using its continuous innovations, still be around for the next generation? Or do you believe it will follow the faith of its predecessor MySpace? Let me know in the comments below!
Wakefield, J. (2014) Facebook turns 10 but are its days numbered? [online] BBC.com. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25953225 [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017]
Quirk, M. B. (2014) Researchers Claim the Disease that is Facebook Will Face Out in a Matter of Years. [online] consumerist.com. Available at: https://consumerist.com/2014/01/23/researchers-claim-the-disease-that-is-facebook-will-fade-out-in-a-matter-of-years/ [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017]
Fiegerman, S. (2017) 5 years after rocky IPO, Facebook is stronger than ever. [online]. Money.cnn.com. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/18/technology/facebook-ipo-anniversary/index.html [Accessed 15 Okt. 2017]
Dawson, J. (2016) Why is Facebook doing so well? [online] recode.net. Available at: https://www.recode.net/2016/4/29/11586544/why-is-facebook-doing-so-well [Accessed 15 Oct. 2017]
Toth, S. (2016) 65 Facebook Acquisitions – The Complete List! [online] techwyse.com. Available at: https://www.techwyse.com/blog/infographics/65-facebook-acquisitions-the-complete-list-infographic/ [Accessed 15 Oct 2017]
Anna Haffmans – 380106
