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from my blog
Many webmasters say I am wrong about facebook, due to the number of users.
One comment I have made is that facebook (in fact this could apply to youtube and many other sites) is that you could think of the site like the M1 motorway. Each day thousands dive on it, but that does not make the M1 money. As long as you have transport you can drive on it all day free.
But it does make some money from adverts (billboards) placed on the side of the motorway. Like facebook placed on your page. Of course the theory is the facebook adverts are more targeted.
But also like facebook the M1 has boltons, such as service stations. With facebook these are aps.
The M1 is also like facebook in that just because people may use it each day does not mean people like it. If a new motorway was built, say with better roads, more lanes, better service stations, then chances are people would start using the new one.
It also must be remembered that just like the M1 every car that goes on it, costs the M1 money. The M1 needs to be maintained. Facebook too costs money in bandwidth and servers, and the cost to run them.
The advantage of sorts facebook has over Google is its more targeted adverts as in you can select sex, age and so on. But these are then put to people who may or may not be interested. With Google its focused on people who are wanting the adverts (well links to websites of the product/service).
However as I keep saying, more and more people use facebook on there mobile which if they do not have adverts in there aps makes advertising pointless. You may have millions in the UK spend 30 mins or longer on facebook, but how many are these are on there mobiles on the way to say work or home n the bus. No adverts for them. In other words your advertising is thus limited to a select number of people, that people those who surf using a computer.
With huge amount now buying these portable tablet computers that use aps, I suspect these too may not carry adverts. If your an advertiser its those who buy new phones and tablets may be the ones you want to sell to as well.
I was told 10% use facebook. I would suspect far more use Google.
In the back of my mind I just think MySpace and all those who are telling me MySpace is the nuts are the ones saying facebook is.
The key clearly is to be a hub. By this be the system that links all your other sites together. This is what facebook seems to do better than others, and I am not sure if Google+ does this.
Just because your the M1 with the most traffic does not mean your going to make the most money. It means you have a lot of power and influence over your drivers on the road. If the driver pulls of the M1 and finds himself on a small country lane but finds a wonderful shop that he can park easily at, he may get out and spend a lot of cash, and keep going back. And that to be is the key. You can have millions of people to your site but that does not mean mass profit.
The big question for me, is if facebook is making billions, then why are they selling shares to raise more cash? I do not see the logic.
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