Posting #4
Technology
Facebook's Prospects May Rest on Trove of Data
Somini Sengupta
The New York Times
May 14, 2012
2 pages
Who would've thought that social networks could be such an important party of our nation, and not only our nations but our nation's economy. Facebook is continuing to grow, and even though there are great debates over how big it might be and how much it might be worth, it all discusses tens of billions, and that is impressive. The article above mainly focuses on Facebook's future. Some investors think that Facebook's value stands at $104 billion and some thing it is at $85 billion with a great potential to grow. The part that is most astonishing about the article is towards the end when the author refers to a recent video released by Zuckerberg where he's discussing the future of Facebook. In the video Zuckerberg says that he thinks that we would reach a point where Facebook is a part of almost everything that we do on the internet and that there wouldn't be a way around it. As a teenager, strangely enough I see this as more than just another ambitious idea of Zuckerberg's, Facebook's role in our lives has been great since the very first day and I don't see it going away any time soon. Experts say that within 10 years the phenomenon will disappear, but that just seems like a stretch, given that Facebook's role continues to grow. I think Mark is a representation to all Americans, a representation of ambition and the meaning of the phrase 'I am here to stay'. I am not sure how the world operated before Facebook, but then again I'm quite young. I just think that Facebook is sort of like when Adam and Eve ate the apple, there was no going back. Going back to the article once more, we see a great deal of discussion about lost profit on cellular phone applications, since on the browser we see ads but when we open our Facebook App there are no ads, companies hat advertise ads through Facebook aren't able to get a full understanding of how much of their advertising is actually being shown. I think that part of the beauty of Facebook is the that it's always there, supplying one with information that is actually interesting to them, and not some ads. I'm curious to see what the future holds for Facebook.
I think that Facebook can't continue to grow because it is already part of almost everything we do. It is amazing to think that one company can be worth 104 billion dollars. I think that as long as Facebook continues to grow that the experts will be wrong but if it stops growing Facebook will disappear. Even as I type this though I see that it probably won't disappear because it says that the word "Facebook" is spelled Wrong without the capitalized 'F'.
ReplyDeleteThis article tends to harp on Facebook’s flaws such as their lack of precision, inexperience as a public company and their inability to turn a big enough profit via advertisements and the mobile site. Susan Etlinger claims that Facebook continues to get by on the motto “Done is better than perfect” and as an industry analyst at the Altimeter Group her critical opinion is worth hearing. Essentially, Facebook is unrefined and if it plans on growing more powerful in the future, more attention to detail is necessary. Etlinger also comments on the step up in drive and efficiency it takes to be a public company as opposed to a private. As Facebook has recently gone public, critics are saying that adjustments within the company’s web organization, economics etc will have to be made. Finally, critics such as Catherine Tucker make note of the difficulty Facebook has faced with integrating enough people specific ads to turn a good profit while still maintaining the illusion of privacy on the site. Tucker also made note Facebook doesn’t have any ads on their mobile site which is a big mistake and something that founder Mark Zuckerberg will have to address in order to reach the valuation of $104 billion that he has set his company at. Overall this article talks about Facebook’s weaknesses from several critics and what they have to change to be more successful.
ReplyDeleteFacebook's success is easily one of the bright spots in America right now. With the war in Afganistan, economic downturn, and destruction of valuable resources, Success in America is vital right now both economically and morally. The story about how facebook started from a normal graduate student looking to be social on the internet, to a multibillion industry that hundreds of millions of people use is very astonishing. Not only this, but it's also a sign of hope to people looking to succeed in the work industry right now. Regardless of whether facebook is really good for people to use, I'm sure that future economic models will be based off of faceook's success. After all of this, it is surely surprising that a rival company hasn't taken facebook down. Since many have tried and all have failed miserably, we can probably now assume that facebook will be here to stay for a long time, and will continue to grow as long as there are people with access to the internet.
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