Facebook in an Increasingly Competitive Social Media Environment
Launched in 2004, Facebook has since become the undisputed social media king. In seven short years Facebook has crushed former social media champ MySpace and in the process has gained over 800 million active users. This explosive growth has been fueled by its ability to permeate the social landscape of society. In many situations, Facebook is used to organize entire events and guest lists. Without an account, individuals have the potential to miss out on an event entirely. This is just one example of how society has grown to expect the average person to have a Facebook. Despite Facebook’s early success, the social media landscape is becoming more crowded everyday.
Facebook’s largest competitor at the moment is Twitter. With over 200 million active users it still only has a quarter of the user base of Facebook, but it is gaining users at a rapid pace. Many Twitter users have stopped posting Facebook statuses entirely, instead swapping out their statuses for tweets on Twitter to a more select group of people. This specialized form of social media is one of the largest dangers to the site. Facebook attempts to cater to all forms of social media via photos, statuses, messaging, and applications. As other social networks perfect just one part of what Facebook does, users will tend to use those sites in tandem with Facebook if not leaving the site entirely for the other, more specialized site. While this may not pose an immediate threat to the social network’s dominance it is certainly a concern for this social media behemoth.
Another competitor is LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), which has over 100 million active users. LinkedIn poses a threat to Facebook’s potential business presence because it is designed specifically for the business world. Once again, the more specialized website is able to challenge Facebook because of its attempt to have an impact in every aspect of social media. LinkedIn’s recent IPO also shows how hungry investors are to be able to buy a piece of the social media frenzy. This is a very positive indicator for Facebook when it eventually goes public, potentially at the end of 2012.
Facebook has responded to LinkedIn’s business offering via the availability of Facebook templates. These templates allow businesses and other various fan pages to have increased customization of their content. This marketing tool is just one way that Facebook is able to remain on top in an increasingly competitive social media environment.
This post was written by Kayvon who is a student and writer. For more web design related posts check out his website at http://www.siteunleashed.com/
There is no doubt that other social networking sites are trying to keep up with Facebook but Facebook is just too tempting for businesses to resist. Given the highest number of users, business owners find it at its greatest potential than with other social media. Other social media put together might even fail to get even with Facebook.