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I think Facebook still has lots of opportunities even if its growth stagnates and its coolness has long since vanished. Considering their size, reach, and engag

by brd 14y ago

I think Facebook still has lots of opportunities even if its growth stagnates and its coolness has long since vanished. Considering their size, reach, and engagement its not unreasonable to think that Facebook could dramatically expand its ad offerings or attempt to create a new widely adopted e-currency/e-commerce solution. Either of these is definitely within their reach, the issue they currently have is that, although they have tons of user data, they have little in the way of user intent and without that they don't have any good ways to monetize their user base. If they can get at the intent, they have a gold mine. Whether they do that by getting involved directly in the transaction or by building a more ubiquitous ad network remains to be seen.

sek 14y ago
It's extremely difficult to create a new revenue stream as a big company. Facebook doesn't have a further scalable business model and i don't see them looking for a new one like Google does. Instagram was a defensive move, exactly the opposite.
- brd 14y ago
  I agree with everything you've said except "doesn't have a further scalable business model". They've already created an advertising platform, they've already got hooks into websites all over the web, is there any reason they can't expand their ad network to compete directly with Google? I see nothing stopping them. Advertisers love the demographic information facebook has, they just can't leverage it appropriately with the limited advertisement offering facebook provides.
  - sek 14y ago
    Ad Sense is not the work horse at Google. I can look up how much percent it is from total revenue, but it is not that high. Edit: I looked it up, everything they call Google Network (probably Doubleclick, Youtube, AdSense) is less that half of what the search engine makes. It has also a lower margin i assume, i don't have Google shares otherwise i would know the details. If you think about what you said, competing directly with Google means having a better product.
    - brd 14y ago
      Sure, the search page is where intent happens so that makes sense. Doing a bit of digging, it looks like the network generates just shy of a 3rd but 37B/3 is not really something to scoff at. I would imagine from a marketers perspective there are times when Facebook would have a better offering. I don't see why there has to be a black & white distinction between Google's and a potential Facebook ad network. Consider Groupon, there are times when the model makes sense (experience based businesses) and times when it doesn't (restaurants). Even if Facebook rolled out their own network and only managed to get another 5 billion out of it, thats still a doubling of their revenue. I admit that after looking at the numbers, its not nearly as rosy as it might have seemed on the outset. But then again, I never had any intention of buying stock anyway.

by brd 14y ago

sek 14y ago

It's extremely difficult to create a new revenue stream as a big company. Facebook doesn't have a further scalable business model and i don't see them looking for a new one like Google does. Instagram was a defensive move, exactly the opposite.

brd 14y ago
I agree with everything you've said except "doesn't have a further scalable business model". They've already created an advertising platform, they've already got hooks into websites all over the web, is there any reason they can't expand their ad network to compete directly with Google? I see nothing stopping them. Advertisers love the demographic information facebook has, they just can't leverage it appropriately with the limited advertisement offering facebook provides.
- sek 14y ago
  Ad Sense is not the work horse at Google. I can look up how much percent it is from total revenue, but it is not that high. Edit: I looked it up, everything they call Google Network (probably Doubleclick, Youtube, AdSense) is less that half of what the search engine makes. It has also a lower margin i assume, i don't have Google shares otherwise i would know the details. If you think about what you said, competing directly with Google means having a better product.
  - brd 14y ago
    Sure, the search page is where intent happens so that makes sense. Doing a bit of digging, it looks like the network generates just shy of a 3rd but 37B/3 is not really something to scoff at. I would imagine from a marketers perspective there are times when Facebook would have a better offering. I don't see why there has to be a black & white distinction between Google's and a potential Facebook ad network. Consider Groupon, there are times when the model makes sense (experience based businesses) and times when it doesn't (restaurants). Even if Facebook rolled out their own network and only managed to get another 5 billion out of it, thats still a doubling of their revenue. I admit that after looking at the numbers, its not nearly as rosy as it might have seemed on the outset. But then again, I never had any intention of buying stock anyway.