Kindly explain how a 2% stake necessarily secures special access to the user base for data mining purposes or whatever. Also, what exactly does that mean in practical terms? Please elaborate on the sweeping "geopolitical" implications.
IDK how much facebook is worth. Maybe a couple million maybe a couple billion. But their advertisement has come a long way. It is very specific. They know what year I am in school my major and the details of my personal life. I get adds for housing at the end of a school year. I get adds for internships and jobs now that im getting close to graduation. As the facebook base gets older I assume it will only make more money in advertisement. As they switch from advertising apartments and jobs to advertising porsche and bmw. They can even target different income groups with different products. I feel like there revenue stream is just as defined as google. I can't give you a figure for what thats worth. It is worth something though.
Just because people dont click the links doesnt mean the advertising hasnt been imbedded in their head. I mean we see advertising on billboards & TV ads all the time and there are no "links" to click with those. Does that mean the advertisers should stop spending that money? Facebook is a sure way to the minds of a 100 million teenagers worldwide that have no concept of saving money and always just want to buy buy buy stuff with their parents money. Facebook is probably worth well over 10 billion if you really think about it.
How durable is this facebook moat. It seems that every 3-4 years something new comes out, people lose interest in the old and move to the new.
I use Facebook daily. Have never spent a penny on it or its advertisers. Neither has anyone in my "friends" list, to the best of my knowledge. At some point, it seems that should matter.
How many years and how many HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of people does it take to monetize one of the most popular websites in the world. If facebook is so hot and think they can make something out of the hundreds of millions of users they have why are they accepting these handouts from investors, by now this company could have put in a plan to make web 2.0 a long lasting unforgettable experience but not be able to capitalize on this type of change in the industry goes well beyond anyones imagination. If they haven't found a way by now they will never find a way and if by chance or luck they do many people will have gone on to something new and better.
Of course it matters, it seems that the only way websites make any kind of money when they arent charging any kind of fee to use their website or service is to throw advertisements all over the place, it doesnt work. I have never used facebook but I know many who do and its the same advertising garbage you see on all social networking sites.
advertising if what makes facebook so valueable. Just like when you own a piece of land next to a major highway and can put a big billboard on it and charge insane amount of money to onlooking traffic. Facebook and others are exactly the same, they are web properties with millions of on lookers where advertisers post. but I guess none of the idiots here have ran a business so they don't know what those millions of targeted eyeballs mean. if you have a product or service, you want your target market to see your company and you would be willing to pay for it. How do we find out about weekend sales, holiday sales, new openings etc? through ads-TV, newspaper, websites. advertising world has tremendous dollars behind it. Don't fight it, join it. create something of value and advertisers will pay and they will pay even more if you target certain groups or localities. FB is also probably using roughly a 20 multiple to give a post-money valuation of $10b.
You obviously do not have the slightest clue of how to run a profitable business since you have no concept of EXPENSES & NET profit. None of these social networking sites have been able to even come close to a profitable model. The revenues from ad space are negligible. If you're looking to inquire about some products, are you going to go to Facebook? Or are you going to go to a consumer website and/or search engine? Facebook ad space is inferior. That's why the owners of these sites only yap about valuation, instead of generating real profits.
Looking at facebook now, the advertisements include Best Buy, Free Rich Dad Training, and a T-shirt printing company. Laughable.