Could There Ever Be Another Facebook?

Facebook May 16, 2010 6 Comments




I get asked quite often about the next big social network both here on the blog and by our clients. Will there be another Facebook? What’s the next Twitter? Is It Going to be Foursquare? Could Google win the social battle? The answer I pretty much always give is to forget about what could be happening in the future and focus on where everybody is at right now which pretty much means Facebook. Social networks by their very nature seem to be very transient, they come and go. You would think that Facebook are pretty much untouchable and will dominate long in to the future but the very same would have been said of Myspace and Bebo not that long ago in different parts of the world. Facebook and Twitter are certainly very deeply entrenched in to our current lives but history has taught us that no matter how much we rely on a platform users are not averse to moving their affections at a moments notice when the next cool tool comes along. Lets forget about Twitter for now and simple ask the question “could there ever be another Facebook?”….

The Privacy Issues

As soon as Facebook make any changes to their privacy settings or homepage there is invariably a huge uproar about from the general public citing a huge invasion of privacy. You can look at either side of the argument on this one but my own feeling is that if you are putting any data online (photos, text, video etc) then you need to be aware that it will be found by somebody and could be used in a multitude of ways. In recent weeks there has however been a louder than normal reaction to Facebook and their somewhat lax privacy settings. The big problem with Facebook is that it’s massive popularity is in part due to their closed network and the fact that for the most part it is mostly only your actual friends who you network with as apposed to other less secure networks where you get spammed and random people see your profile.

Facebook Without Brands?

Facebook needed to start making money. They had huge investment (over $700 million) and although they had a huge network of users until recently they were making very little money. In order to make money Facebook needed to open up the network to advertisers and brands who could actively target it’s users with them nicley segmented based on the large amount of data that Facebook collects. There was in short a conflict of interests. Does this open up the door to a new competitor coming to market that didn’t allow brands but instead created a secure network where users could have Facebook style functionality without being targeted by brands? An Ad free Facebook? It does sound very appealing as a user but at the end of the day it would need to be a business and running large secure social networks does not come cheap. The question to ask here is would users pay a very small monthly fee to have a Facebook that had no ads or interfering from brands?

Facebook Is The New Google?

Facebook has evolved further than just being a social network. You can see the change happening in front of our eyes with the new like buttons and functionality pushing Facebook further in to our whole web experience with 3rd party sites embracing the like button. We are all relying more and more on social search to research products and recommendations of friends when we actually go to buy products. In a world where advertising struggles to cut through Facebook will start to emerge as a real competitor to Google and you only have to look at the amount of traffic going to Facebook in the USA to see the threat. For this reason I’d see it as highly unlikely that Facebook could have a real competitor in the short term. Facebook has the dominant market position, is making lots of money to safeguard that position and is still for the most part a trusted brand, starting all that from scratch is not going to be easy for anyone.

Where Will Facebook Be In 5 Years Time?

The short answer is on every single person’s mobile phone. Facebook is here to stay. Other social networks came and went because they didn’t really offer that much apart from a social experience somebody would always come along and offer better functionality and the crowd would move. Facebook is different because although it started as a place to connect with friends and family it has morphed in to a key part of our daily lives where we connect with friends, find our news, consume media, shop (lots more of that to come), promote our businesses and socialize among other things. In 5 years you will think of Facebook in the same way that you think of Google now. When you think of the Internet you will pretty much think of Facebook, it will act as the central portal to everything you like online. Social networks come and go but I personally think Facebook is here for the long run.

About SimplyZesty

Simply Zesty are a Social Media Agency located in Dublin, Ireland who offer a range of Social Media Marketing Services (including Facebook Marketing).

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