Facebook is about to become a monster

Maybe the past tense is completely unnecessary here, as most people know, Facebook is already huge.

But if there was any doubt Facebook was not, this graphⁱ should win over even the most cynical. Still unconvinced? Take a look at this oneⁱⁱ; over the last 3 months Facebook has experienced double digit growth on every single continent on the planet. Double digit growth for a site that is, as of this week, the world's most visited - dethroning Google in the process.

 

Some people, notably Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz would say, it's only traffic so “what's their revenue?”ⁱⁱⁱ Well she may have gotten her answer this week. Facebook intends to become an e-commerce platform (and of course keep a percentage of that money for itself). It's already expected to make a billion dollars in revenue this year without it; but this latest development could turn it into a certified monster company.

 

For the time being however, Facebook's revenue is comparatively small. But the threat to all top web destination is huge, and Google seems to be the most pro-active about countering it. Perhaps it remembers being dismissed for the very same reason just a few years ago. Last month Google made an awkward attempt to barge into the social scene late with Google Buzz. It turned out to be a huge public relations blunder^iv for a mighty company that just a few years ago could do no wrong and seemed destined to rule all things web, possibly forever.

 

Times have changed however, and it now looks like Facebook could actually end up the king. They continue to break out of their self-imposed “walled garden”, first with Facebook connect and most recently with it's Open Graph API^v. They appear to have a winning strategy to dominate the Internet.

 

These are very interesting times - can't wait to see how this plays out.