Facebook simply had too much money. The recent
purchase of Whatsapp shows how extravagance Facebook is in their aggressive
expansion and dominance in the mobile platform. But does the hefty $19b price
tag warrants it?
Facebook had been obsessed with advertising and targeting
relevant ads to their users, as far back as in 2007 with Facebook Beacon which
(surprise!) led to a class action suit. What is vital about Beacon is that
users will have their activities published on their Facebook feed when they
visited certain websites, thus infringing on your privacy.
A quick check on Wikipedia reveals that Facebook
had acquired Beluga in 2011, and integrated with Facebook Messenger.
Other famous acquisition includes Instagram and
Lightbox.com which allows Facebook to enter the foray of photo editing and
sharing sites. What is of no secret now is that Facebook is entering a stagnant
phase, the maturity phase, being widely accepted and in danger of decline. As
with what market analysis business manager will do, it is time to reinvent the
wheel for Facebook. And this wheel- mobile platforms.
Mobile platforms had been Facebook focused since
IPO. It had been their desire, seen from their handling of mobile app. But the
question begets- is Facebook trying too hard? And who is Facebook actual target
user?
Facebook, when it was once cool and new and
exciting was used majority by teenagers and young adults, who did not have huge
spending powers. Now with the rise of notable competitors like Twitter,
Facebook is losing much ground (and attention) from their original intended
users. What used to be a platform for college kids to connect with one another
had become a platform for nosy parents to know what their offspring are up to.
And don’t even get started with B2B on Facebook (like is it even possible?!)
What Facebook now have is the actual telephone
numbers of over 450 million users. Actual live numbers, unlike the millions of
fake Facebook accounts. And it is quite scary, and seen as a desperate attempt
by Facebook to wanting to know us better.
Ignore the corporate gobshite and jargons about
connecting the world and utility to the world by delivering core
Internet services efficiently and affordably. What Facebook need is a reality
check, for once they start charging money for whatsapp, chances are, many will migrate
over to Line or WeChat. In
the mobile platform, which are all intangibles, customers will not stick to a
single product (or app in this case) because of familiarity. Because if
Facebook really believe this, then they won’t be changing the interphase of
their Facebook app to be so degrading!!
Let's hop over now, before Facebook start calling us on behalf of insurance, financial and holiday companies.
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