Facebook unlike Steemit has a problem - it's running out of connected internet to gobble up.
Conquest over?
Facebook’s growth on the stock market since it went public in 2012 has been impressive (shares have quadrupled in a little over five years), as it repeatedly defied expectations that its membership expansion must slow down. Analysts are almost universally gushing about the company’s prospects – 43 of 48 polled by Thomson Reuters recommend buying shares.
Yet Facebook’s run does have to end at some point. The laws of large numbers can be delayed but not ignored. Globally, Facebook has two-thirds of internet users outside of China. That is approaching the proportions of markets like the UK, where people have had the option to sign up to Facebook for years and decided against it.
No worlds left to conquer
Zuckerberg cannot rely on more of the world merely coming online for growth. That number is rising, but more slowly than the rate at which Facebook itself is growing, even with the company’s focus on making the app work on cheap phones and spotty internet connections.
Facebook is well aware of this and has embarked on deals with mobile operators to provide subsidised data services and made investments in developing its own infrastructure (last week, Facebook announced it had completed the first successful test flight of Aquila, a solar-powered drone it expects will help provide coverage to rural areas).
The company has inconsistently provided investors with other indicators of how hooked its users really are. In April last year it said people spend 50 minutes a day across Facebook itself, its Messenger app and the Instagram photo network, but has been silent on the matter since.
Research from eMarketer suggests the time spent on Facebook itself – the most lucrative of the three properties – will stall this year. It has not updated investors on other crucial metrics, such as how much time its users spend watching videos, in over a year, a further indication that engagement may be flatlining.
Facebook still has a lot going for it. It bought Instagram for a bargain $1bn and it is growing spectacularly. It is succeeding in earning more from each of its users, as advertisers siphon money away from traditional media and into the company’s targeted ad network.
In the last year average revenue per user has risen from $3.32 to $4.23. In the US, where digital advertising is more mature, it is $17. But already being part of a digital advertising duopoly with Google, there is a limit to how much this can continue.
Facebook is running out of internet to conquer. When it does, it will need a new growth story to tell.
But in the meantime, would the real Steemit please stand up.
Steem on!
But already being part of a digital advertising duopoly with Google, there is a limit to how much this can continue.
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Facebook is running out of internet to conquer. When it does, it will need a new growth story to tell
BUZZKILL
nope...I disagree. There is NO LIMIT....
No end to their r- empires eh! :)
no limit to the attention economy.
On Steemit: no limit to the pressing buttons economy :)
Time for STEEM to take over the market. Not necessarily Steemit Inc. But STEEM in general!
Agreed Jeff - gotta love the STEEM!!
Big tech companies grow after a while, another company takes the place, for example yahoo.
Agreed @eliel - lets hope Steemit can take a small % of that FB decline :)
I feel like Facebook are starting to get desperate to suck more growth out of a dry stone and could have a backlash from developed markets.
For some reason my phone has 8gb which is all used up by the android operating system. Facebook has now switched off the ability to read messages within the webaite on my mobile and forces me to download the facebook messenger app... Which cannot fit on my phone (and doesn't install on the SD card). This is just selected users, since when other people log in on my phone they can read their messages.
Also for marketers and small businesses, they are forcing you to pay for any sort of visibility for content to go viral.
There is no point having a crazy high share price if you have to ruin the product to deliver the expected dividends for shareholders.
Stick with Steemit. Much more simpler :)
For me the biggest problem of the "Fakebook" is its centralized control, aimed to meeting globalist interests.
Thanks for the article :)
Thank the Lord for Ned Scott and Dan Larimer!! :)
why do you say that 'globalists" and 'centralist" have the same goals?
I am wating to see wat crypto will fb relase for them self.a facecoin
Facecoin - no thanks - I'll stick with the STEEM for now :)
Me too but they have te tecnolgy to do that and they have a lot of daily activ
Bittrex isn't processing to btc wallet right now?
Busy July 4th holiday weekend as stated in chat I think?? Peak periods and it just goes down the pooper!
Given up on Bittrex for tonight. Cup of tea made & will wait for ye in chat! :)
Will the real social network please stand up?
Great tune Tishya ... I had to squeeze it in :))
I can see you channelling a bit of slim shady behind the keyboard 😂
Oh yes! Oh yes!! :)
They'll be focusing on their revenue per user as you highlighted. Buying more data and advancing their algorithm. Show the ads to the right people at the right time and they'll make much more money.
Steemit just feels so refreshing after the data overload of FB. The web interface is no longer intuitive at all on FB! :(
I believe FB lost a lot when it limited the reach of the posts according with a promotion scheme. I've heard rumors that steemit is heading in the same direction
I don't that would be accepted by many in a truly decentralized system!