The Essence of Facebook

Today is Sunday February 12 and it around 3pm. Tonight is the 2012 Grammy Awards, and a status that is trending on Facebook is RIP Whitney Houston. It is a tribute to an incredible singer who will be missed by many of us. If we look a passed the status updates we see our Facebook friends posting pictures, liking status updates, commenting on various forms of activity, and watching videos. Just the other day a father who was fed up with his daughters Facebook activity decided to post a Youtube video on how to be a better parent, (you can watch the video posted below). So now besides just college age and younger audiences Facebook is making its way into the adult world, who up until the last year or two was almost non-existent. Facebook is truly growing into the driving force that moves our lives each day. The Essence of Facebook is its users. We all become obsessed so quickly and we check, post, update and comment at all hours of the day. Some days i walk into a Starbucks and all i see are people browsing pictures on Facebook. The social network has truly driven the technological age with social integration and is driving a lot of companies to get on board in social advertising. Firms such as Facebook or Google may actually know more about our daily habits than we do ourselves. This is the first step into the next generation of technology. Blackberry maker Research In Motion, says their new phones due out later this summer are not just "Smart" but they are "Genius-phones". Social networks are leading the way with the new technology.

Did you know?

With the Facebook IPO, they value each one of their users at around $180 USD per year. With this information in their hands they now want to keep us on their site a lot longer too. By using new apps and events, they want to increase the reach of their advertisements. With the IPO going on sale around the beginning of May, financial analysts are predicting that the stock will be slightly overvalued but should even out after about three weeks of the initial price jump. From then on we could see a steady increase in the value of the stock. But some investors who are skeptical on the company see it as something that could go either way. The management team though very successful thus far, is not profit driven; they just want to change the world. Analysts want there to be either a management shift in the company, or for the company to go the Amazon and Google route by creating a physical product. Whether it is software, a tablet, a smartphone, or a laptop, these leading analysts want something physical on Facebook's balance sheet.

I watched a speaker last week who sees Facebook as the future. I agree with his belief in that a few years down the road, most of what we do online will be running through our Facebook's. I see the company moving towards a single platform that will integrate apps such as Foursquare, Groupon and Netflix types. So having one single site where you will have everything could be a great success or, could lead to a downfall if the company ever got hit by a cyber attack. So in this case Progress for the Sake of Progress must be monitored. During these new 6 months to a year it will be very interesting to see what happens to the company.