Rupert Staines of RadiumOne comments … “The rapid fall of Facebook’s share price following last week’s IPO is hardly surprising. If you were to compare it to Google’s valuation after eight years of existence, Facebook would appear to be considerably overpriced.
Understandably Facebook will have to respond by increasing commercial messaging throughout the network, but one has to question whether it is at risk of alienating its dedicated users, by saturating them with wall to wall ads.
And then there is the question of whether, even if the advertising strategy is successful, it will be enough. They will have to look to alternative revenue streams where they do not have the expertise, such as mobile.
Facebook is an amazing business, with an phenomenal forward-looking vision to the web – there is no doubt in my mind that consumers will continue to use it. However, we have to look at the realities of how Facebook will make its money. If we’re lucky, their huge public value will leave the door open for some innovative social advertising across the whole open web.”
