Social media has become a central means for many individuals to engage in social communication. Many individuals with internet connectivity, through either phones or computers, will at one point access social media for various reasons. As such, businesses need to take advantage of social media to gain access to the large consumer population that uses various social media networks (Sebastian, 2012). Social networking industry is open to both large-scale operators without a specific niche and operators with limited market niche; thus, the industry is attractive for businesses and users with specific needs. Social networking industry is currently dominated by a few companies, namely, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. All these social networking sites handle their networking platforms uniquely, despite their common objective. For instance, the major social networking sites provide an avenue for interaction between persons and companies, and for accessing latest happenings within an individual’s locality and globally. The key objective of social networking platforms is thus to allow information gathering, collegiality, venting, opinion sharing, and information provision to large groups (Sebastian, 2012). This paper analyzes Facebook, Inc., based on its prosperity as a social networking website, and uses it as the standard website upon which to recommend the needs of a company developing its own social network.
Facebook Inc. is an American company that operates a social network website. The company’s website offers an opportunity to its users to communicate and interact with their families, friends, schoolmates and workmates. It also provides a platform for advertisement for various companies that seek to leverage social media for marketing and public relations. Facebook is utilizing a wide range of technologies that allows its customers to upload unlimited number of photos and videos, interact, share website links. According to Daft (2011), Mark Zuckerberg, who is the current CEO of the Facebook Inc., founded the social networking site in 2004 as a network avenue while in Harvard. The social network company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, U.S., went public early this year after making an initial public offer in NASDAQ Stock Market.
Facebook, Inc core objective is to connect individuals on an innovative platform that encourages increasing interaction. Facebook does not only wish to connect people only, but also to facilitate an emotional connection between the interacting partners. Unlike other social networking sites that prioritize monetization, Facebook seeks to increase connectivity between people. For a number of years, Facebook has been concentrating on building strong people-to-people interactions seeking to build a high user patronage (Sutherland, 2012). Facebook Inc. has achieved its core objective to greater extent, having risen to become the dominant social networking site in terms of user engagement (Sutherland, 2012).
Facebook boasts of a wide range of strengths that has enabled it to become a market leader in the social networking industry. Key among Facebook’s strengths include, but not limited to, continuous innovation, unlimited target market, vast applications, Easy sign ups, localization and unique products (Daft, 2011). Facebook is renowned for its innovation potential. This is evident through their continuous improvements on their site design and, much importantly, their large number of applications. Facebook has a wide range of applications that assist users to enjoy easier interaction and sharing of photos, videos and content on other websites.
Sutherland (2012) asserts that Facebook’s innovation capacity is also evident in its ability to provide its customers with a wide range of unique products. Key among the products offered by Facebook include, but not limited to, News feed, Timeline, Messages, Photo Tagging, Groups, Events and Pages (“Products”, 2012). These products offer unique experience to the users. For instance, Timeline allows customers to organize and highlight all activities and events that they value most, while the Groups act as a private space for individuals with common interest such as schoolmates, teammates, or family to come together in a customized environment (“Products”, 2012). Localization which ensures that most geographic locations are included in Facebook, is another major strength that has facilitated the site’s success. For instance, Facebook pages are available in at least 40 languages and many more are currently being developed. Facebook is an activity-focused social networking site; it only focuses on connecting people in an innovative platform rather than focusing on other activities such as business or music networking (Sutherland, 2012).
Facebook Inc.’s strategy has been built upon continuous improvement and aggressive innovative culture (Daft, 2011). This capability, compounded by availability of innovative staff, has facilitated the current successes of Facebook. This means that Facebook’s principal resources and capabilities lie in its innovative staff and capacity to adapt to change. Such aspects enables it to evaluate social trends and provide solutions that lure more people to its website.
Facebook has several strengths that can help the company’s growth in the global marketplace. Key among the strengths that can help the company in question include high level of innovation, continuous improvements, unique products, Easy sign ups, activity focus and several languages. Because the company is planning to launch a new social networking site that is unfamiliar to various users, it needs to concentrate on connection between users and the business. It is also imperative that the company develops an innovation culture that will ensure that the new social networking site proactively introduces new features, which serve to enhance user engagement within the website.
References
Daft, R. (2011). Understanding management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
- (2012). Newsroom. Retrieved October 11 2012 from: https://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=19
Sebastian, M. (2012). The psychology of social networking. PR Daily, 34. Retrieved from http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/The_psychology_of_social_networking_12304.aspx
Sutherland, A. (2012). The story of Facebook. New York: Rosen Central.
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