The Facebook created a platform few years ago and really took off in the last 18 months with apps and better user engagement. The platform initially introduced the concept of ‘Vending Machine’ that I had written few posts ago. This platform enabled developers to create apps that users asked. The platform acted as a vending machine giving the exact product that customers wanted and mostly for free :).
This year’s Facebook Timeline has gone a step further and was able to scale the vending machine to a magnitude of creating a whole new industry. Yes! Facebook is not just a website, its not even a social network, it is now an Industry where entertainment, travel, lifestyle, and many other industries will have a paradigm shift in the way content is created, shared, and consumed, deals are transacted, and information is searched.
Google may not be monopolistic anymore. One of Google’s executive has predicted that online display ad market is over $250 billion in 2025, and if Facebook continues to do good work and innovate, they are going to get Lion’s share of it.
Sridhar Karnam 