Background:
Facebook has been the most dominant Social Media platform in the last 10 years with almost
1.2 billion unique users. It has become an integral part of our daily lives. People post their
thoughts, status updates, pictures, audio and video; they share information about their travel,
important dates of their lives like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries. In other words it has
become a platform that most people cannot live without. Facebook has done extremely well financially with a market cap of $537.22 Billion making Mark Zuckerberg the 4th richest man in the world with a personal net worth of $73.8 Billion.
Facebook’s revenue grew from 7.87 billion in 2013 to 40.7 billion US dollars in 2017. That year,
Facebook accumulated a net income of 15.9 billion US dollars, ranking first among social
media companies in annual revenues. The majority of Facebook revenues are generated via
advertising – the shift towards e-commerce and online marketing has never been more evident
than in 2016. Other revenue-generating factors are online marketing and online promotion
during events such as the U.S. election in 2016, during which online advertising played a major
role. But everything is not well for Facebook with some ominous signs on the horizon. Recent
surveys have shown that US adults shifted their attention away from Facebook in 2017.
The amount of time adults spent on Facebook declined 4% year-over-year (YoY) in November
- Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp saw increases in users and time spent last year, which may have played a role Facebook’s drop in usage in November 2017.
However, less time spent on the platform doesn’t necessarily bode ill for Facebook’s ad
revenue, as the company can raise its ad prices to offset losses associated with fewer overall
ad views, especially as inventory in the News Feed becomes more scarce.
Another factor that should worry Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg is that Teens are leaving
Facebook faster than expected, according to a new study from research firm eMarketer.
The study estimates that Facebook’s user base among 12- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. will
shrink by 3.4 percent in 2017, the first time eMarketer has predicted a decline in Facebook usage for any age group. The company said that it “reduced its usage estimates” for
Facebook, but didn’t originally include what the previous estimates were and did not
immediately reply to a request for clarification.
The firm also said its estimates for usage among users 18- to 24-years-old “will grow more
slowly than previously forecast, too.”
Regardless of what they were, a revised slowdown is obviously bad news for Facebook.
Question:
Given this scenario, Mark Zuckerberg needs help and has hired you as a consultant with
expertise on Digital Strategies and Network platforms.
What recommendations will you make to Mark to reverse this trend, and increase Facebook’s
appeal to adults and especially to the millennials? What changes can Facebook make to its
platform, products and services, so that they can continue to dominate the Social Media space
as they have done in the past?
Guidelines and instructions:
- Your recommendations must be in an Executive Essay form; Mark is a busy man, and doesn’t
have time to read over unnecessary fluff.
- maximum 4-5 pages.
- Use concepts from lectures.
