Facebook - The Social Media Giant

Maha_haider · December 31, 2021, 10:08pm

Facebook is the most important social network today. It reigns social media because of its user-friendly platform for communication, advertising and leisure time pass.

What is Facebook? Discovering the Social Media King

Introduction

Facebook, the parent company of Facebook (social networking site), changed its name to Meta in 2021. The name was hit with a copyright strike and was acquired after $60 million was paid. According to Facebook’s PR campaign, the name Meta reflects the goal to long-term shifting business of building the Metaverse, a digital extension of the physical world from the capabilities of social media, virtual reality, and augmented reality. ‘Facebook’ is now used for the social media platform only. Undoubtedly a milestone in the social media world, the Facebook network, although having scandals attached to its name, is a social media giant to date.

Varying products and services have put Facebook at a disadvantage in the context of popularity and community standards. Businesses have withdrawn from advertising citing discriminatory attitudes. However, Facebook employs popular marketing trends and television shows that guarantee site traffic.

The Story Behind Facebook

The company began as a site named Face mash where students of Harvard signed up to vote for their fellow students’ attractiveness which got shut down because of policy violations in acquiring the required equipment. However, it gave an idea to Mark Zuckerberg, who registered the domain name of Facebook in 2004 and called upon his university fellows to form a network. Facebook began adding new features and quickly gained popularity. That however does not warrant it a always smooth run. Facebook has been involved in it’s share of controversies and scandals.

Features of Facebook

The product managers maintain that they can reach the right audience and promote their product as a creation relative to their interests. If you lose your id password, you can recover it by following easy guidelines without any hassle. Moreover, you can create, delete, lock, unlock and recover your accounts and passwords without a complicated process.

Individuals, businesses and startups use its algorithm and marketing trends which is why industries are on a roll. Meta Platform’s single percent stake in the rapidly expanding company can expectedly reach worth more than $1 billion by 2022.

Facebook Lite

It is the same as Facebook but has advantages over it. Facebook Lite is a relatively small app, about 1.8 MB and can be downloaded in no time at all. It can work on all kinds of networks, so you don’t have to worry about an unstable connection.

Messenger

Conceived in 2008, initially as Facebook Chat, Messenger is an instant messaging application. If you want to use it, you must have an active Facebook account or an old account you can connect.

How is Facebook helping individuals, businesses and startups grow?

Marketplace

The marketplace is a section on Facebook where users can sell, resell, buy and discover items ranging from edibles to plots and houses. This division displays a wide range of products, mostly by third-party sellers who have no connection directly with the brand of the product they are selling still, you can have a good deal. The search is made precise by using filters. Advertise your shops on the Marketplace even if you don’t sell directly from it or don’t plan on selling from it if you are a novice.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the process of raising funds from a large number of people, more specifically and modernly, through the internet. As told, Facebook being a globally used social media site is sans doubt one of the best options to go for when crowdfunding is needed.

When you do require crowdfunding,

Make sure you are asking the targeted people.
Write a concise copy and specify what the people will be funding.
Have a particular time in mind with regards to raising funds.

Advertising

It is an opportunity remiss if you don’t identify the potential of Facebook advertising, despite observing substantial growth in its users. It made over $28 billion in advertising revenue in the 3rd quarter of 2021. The user controls their advertisements, so they can be sure that they don’t have to pay any hidden or sudden charges. Advertising on Facebook accelerates brand growth through customized marketing.

Account Creation

Rivalries and Competition

Social media is saturating because several options are available as more efficient substitutes replace older websites and applications. Naturally, it is not surprising to see that even Facebook, which dethroned MySpace, is facing tough competition from rival applications and websites, for instance, WhatsApp and Instagram. Did it roll out new features and strategies? No. Instead, Meta bought these social media giants; WhatsApp for $19 billion and Instagram for $1 billion. In the case of advertising, Google is the go-to platform. Facebook needs to up its game.

Cybercrimes

Facebook is used for several purposes but has disadvantages too. Cybercrimes are punishable offenses committed through the internet. On Facebook, account creation is a little too easy and for children who are enthusiastic about learning new things, even more.

Committees and different kinds of networks claiming to aid a particular purpose end up revealing themselves as a complete fraud. We recommend being highly careful.

The cyber security research division of Cisco, Talos found groups on Facebook involved in illegal activities like phishing and other fraudulent schemes. It also found that some of these malicious groups got deleted while others remain as secondary versions.

Additionally, there is also abusive and exploitative content on Facebook, promoting shady activities, human abuse and discriminatory content. In the case of young people, it is not much difficult for the abusers to contact and exploit them by picking on their personalities. Abuse and exploitation are not limited to children and young people only. It can target any age group with trauma or distress.

Children and adolescents enter false details to create accounts and join groups and pages or chat with people. Those people on the other side can be anyone from a clueless kid to a falsely framed person or a convict. It is of utmost importance to take care of mental health because most people who suffer from mental health issues fall prey to cybercrime.

Cybercrimes committed through Facebook include but are not limited to phishing, extortion, cyberbullying, stalking, harassment, identity theft and data breach. Facebook is the most important social network today but continues to be a matter of concern.

SWOT Analysis

Company: Facebook. Founded In: 2004, on 4th February

Founders: Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes.

CEO: Mark Zuckerberg Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA

TYPE: Public SYMBOL: FB

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES	OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Sustainable strategies have helped Facebook establish itself as a strong brand.	Facebook's inability to counter fake news is irksome to many, who believe it is a monopoly.	A diversified portfolio means the expansion of services and consequently, customers.	Racial bias and other controversies
Heterogeneity is a key characteristic of the social network.	Disagreement regarding termination of an employee who protested political acts.	Remote work integration	Infringement of intellectual property rights has moved several regulatory bodies to enact new transparency rules and impose on Facebook.
Facebook is dominating the market with over 2.7 billion monthly active users.	Negative publicity greatly affected the image of Mark Zuckerberg after he was accused of aiding political agendas.	Acquisitions and takeovers	Digital tax, in the EU and the UK as of yet
Marketing and advertising	Massive data breaches and leaks	Integration of Facebook with other websites and apps	Bans in certain nations to safeguard national security or derail democracy.

Facts About Facebook

Some quick facts and information about Facebook.

Facebook reached 1 million users by the end of 2004.
Tagging introduced in 2005
Facebook crossed over 5 million monthly active users by the near end of 2005.
Procter and Gamble, which was known for its household products advertised on Facebook and received a massive response that had not happened before, after which more companies began posting ads on it.
Facebook surpassed MySpace in 2008 as the most visited site.
Eduardo Saverin was paid $5 billion in a lawsuit settlement. He had claimed that Zuckerberg diluted his share.
Sheryl Sandberg got recruited by the Facebook CEO in 2008 as the Chief Operating Officer. Her work proved crucial to Facebook’s success.

SUMMARY

Facebook, founded by a Harvard student, has established itself in the social media networking world. Although its practices get questioned at times, people use it because of its continuously evolving features. It aims to add to and further diversify its services to keep its audience from migrating to other platforms. The marketplace is a core reason why Facebook is used, along with advertising which brings 98% of its profit. Data and information leaks, in addition to other privacy issues, push the regulatory bodies to enact new transparency rules.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Facebook is the best social network?

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms. A staggering majority of online consumers create their accounts on Facebook for either personal or official reasons. Personal reasons include messages and audio/video calls through Messenger or simply browsing for any purpose. Official reasons include working on-site or remote jobs or posting job ads. Remember this tip; The Facebook algorithm prioritizes meaningful conversations.

2. Why is Facebook the most important social network?

Almost a third of the world’s population uses Facebook, so you can market your business and maximize profit, provided you have a target audience in mind. Additionally, Facebook helps people connect over geographical and cultural borders.

3. How many people use social media?

An estimated figure of two-thirds of all internet users is on social media. Major social networking platforms are available in multiple languages to accommodate as many users from different regions in the world. Facebook will reach over 3.96 billion consumers expectedly. This number will grow further.

4. Is Facebook still popular?

Undoubtedly, yes. With over 2.7 billion monthly active users (MAUs), Facebook is still an undisputed king of social media. However, it is interesting to note that despite being immensely popular, it is not the most visited site, that being YouTube.

5. Does Facebook have a competitor?

Instagram has been at heads with Facebook in terms of popularity. Meta (previously Facebook), the same firm that owns Facebook also bought Instagram. Facebook has seen an alarming drop in the number of teenage users. However, it is still enjoying supremacy in the social networking world.

6. Which is better, FB or Instagram?

A tricky one! It depends on how and for what exactly you might want to use social media. Although Facebook had limited features at the start, now, however, it is often adding features that are a hit with its users.

7. What is the SWOT analysis of Facebook?

Facebook’s strength lies primarily in expanding its operations by including different services to bear the loss if any division fails. It faces criticism over privacy and data protection concerns, while on the contrary, growing requirements of the public provide opportunities for new features to prevent platform migration. The digital tax imposed in the EU and the UK is a threat right now.

8. Why did Facebook change its name?

To identify and implement virtual reality augmentation.

9. How did Facebook achieve market power?

Dominant share in the market, preventing importing information to other platforms and major takeovers of social networking platforms give Facebook the market power. They control advertising.

10. Is Facebook a monopoly?

Facebook being a monopoly is debatable because it controls personal data and information. Additionally, its dominant share in more than a few subsectors of the internet consumer industry makes people believe it’s influencing their decisions. However, for others, Facebook requires information to present ads to its users, in which case using consumer information should be valid.

CONCLUSION

Owing to technological advances, we have the world a few taps away but technology and media for some people is a curse, more or less. Facebook is a phenomenon we all love to hate, some hate that they love it. Regardless of our personal opinions, we cannot disagree with how it has helped us, especially the advertising industry and supported businesses through competent features. While there are a plethora of advantages of Facebook, cybercrimes and subsequent events threaten the public space. Be Safe.