The social networking giant which has turned nine today (launched on February 4, 2004) had very humble beginnings, in comparison to some of the less successful social networking platforms backed by large Internet companies with deep pockets (Orkut, Yahoo 360 come to mind). When Mark Zuckerburg and four of his friends, in the dorms of their Harvard University campus started thefacebook.com, no one thought it would become an Internet defining platform that it has turned out to be. In fact, it initially worked on an invite-only basis. The website was later rebranded as facebook.com and was made available for open registrations. In the meantime, Facebook also acquired the domain name FB.com as it became part of normal conversation to refer Facebook as "FB"
Piracy concerns and government censorship notwithstanding, nine years later, it is unquestionably the biggest social networking website in the world. As of September, 2012 Facebook had crossed the 1-billion active users mark.
[For a recent history of Facebook, check out our Facebook Timeline in 2012 story]
Mark Zuckerberg talking about reaching 1 billion users, at the launch of Open Graph
There have been ongoing debates about the future of Facebook; with the naysayers claiming that the platform's ride on the hype cycle is bound to slow down, as is the case with anything that rides on popularity. Some say, people will just get bored of the routine of sharing and liking. Be that as it may, here's why I think Facebook's success story will continue:
- Controversies, although not always good, certainly do help in keeping you visible in the public's eye. And Facebook is nothing new to controversies. The aam aadmi might not have visited the Internet, but reading about Facebook in the local newspaper will spark his interest sooner or later and he may register for an account. In the developing world, such folks form a huge number.
- Nine years is a long time on the Internet. Facebook has not only survived that long, but also steadily grew. A company with rather humble beginnings outgrowing products created by the Yahoo! and Google, no less, means the company is doing something right.
- An extension of the above fact is that this platform has reached a critical mass of users, so much so that social media marketing has come to mean Facebook marketing. That is happening only because there are enough users on there, who are spending enough time on Facebook, making it worthwhile for businesses to spends on advertising there. Even Google seems to be concerned about its own cash cow, Adwords, now. Nearly every Internet-savvy business out there has a page on Facebook, further lending credibility to the platform. Other social media platforms did not enjoy this level of recognition.
- Number of users wise, Brazil and India are in second and third spot respectively for Facebook (with the US being number one). As said before, there are large sections of population that are only now warming up to the Internet in these parts of the world. By peer pressure, or just innate curiosity, these Internet newbies are likely to try out Facebook.
- With Facebook's tight mobile integration and a mobile UI that is user friendly, Facebook's traffic is set to grow alongside mobile penetration. Some people prefer accessing Facebook from their mobile device, rather than on the desktop! Facebook is one company that has got the mobile game right.
Facebook's next growth chapter will contain mobility has a huge part of it. The growth, I believe is going to continue.
