back to article Facebook post-IPO: Free not fee will make Zuck a buck

No sooner did Facebook file its S-1 in preparation for an IPO than speculation kicked into high gear on how Facebook could possibly sustain its $75bn to $100bn valuation. After all, despite its hugely impressive revenue and profit numbers, key components of its revenue model – like advertising revenue – are decelerating. So …

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  1. Local Group
    Joke

    Requiescat In FaceBook

    CARTOON

    Visitation room in funeral home. Coffin at front. 80 empty chairs except for man on one side and woman on the other. One funeral director says to assistant: "We were expecting a larger crowd. He had over 2000 friends on FaceBook."

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Dam friction-less sharing and the company is toast"

    Please, God, let it be true.

  3. Mike Echo

    I, like man + dog, use Facebook, but could easily live without it. It contains nothing that is a "must have" (ie "would pay for") for me.

  4. Renato

    Facebook Premium Membership Plus! Apply now

    I don't see how Facebook wouldn't benefit from a paid membership. Make it an exclusive club so everyone would like to pay.

    1. Captain Save-a-ho

      There has to be a value to pay. Ask LinkedIn how well that's working for them, since the only people that really pay for the service are recruiters. Most of FB's 800M users would have to be convinced of a not-yet-available feature they simply cannot live without to generate conversions from free to paid.

      To be honest, it's not as though this couldn't happen, but I cannot imagine any new (legal) feature that would convert people in droves. If FB started offering up pr0n...

    2. Terry Cloth
      Big Brother

      Offer a real benefit for membership---privacy

      If Facebook brought out a private version (_everything_ is opt-in, and it all works even if you decline), I might consider giving it a try. I'd need some pretty solid evidence that it's truly private, and a guarantee that it would stay that way, but it's a chance they'd find worth taking. Show the world how much privacy is really worth, and if it's high enough, others might follow along.

      A related question: How much does Facebook get from advertisers _per member_. I suspect it's small enough that people would be willing to pay it to not be tracked. Anybody got any feeling for that number?

  5. DF118

    friction-less?

    Fb becomes more grating every day.

    What's that? You want to read the same article on the same website that your friend did? Nah mate you need to install an app first.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How about...

    One way I can see FB generating revenue without resulting in a mass exodus of users is to keep direct 'ads' to an absolutle minimum (as it is now!) and make corporate membership and 'pages' chargable, with all 'individual' accounts remaining free.

    That might actually cut the clutter of spam pages which wouldn't be a bad thing and get rid of those dam viral pages. It's be like a whole sub-INternet, so page space could be sold in batches of users (likes) rather than MB.

    The genius of much of the current advertising is that it is there but nobody notices - you like a page, your are be advertised to by subscription that you opted into, therefore interested in and free of charge. And that is currently untapped revenue for what is a valuable marketing tool for many companies.

  7. Christian Berger

    Where's the problem?

    It's a public company now. Just raise your compensation to insane levels and resign shortly afterwards.

    It's a public company, there's no reason to pretend you have a business model. Just pull out as much money as you can and run.

    1. Drew V.

      Ah yes, "scorched earth captalism". A Wall Street specialty indeed.

    2. Captain Save-a-ho

      This model only works for the pure startup looking to be sold. On the contrary, Mr. Zuckerberg and FB, by all appearances, intend to rule the world if at all possible. Though, world domination must have a scorched-earth component to be successful.

  8. Kanhef

    "frictionless sharing"

    Sure - as long as it's within Facebook. Try to get your data out in any way, and you'll find it feels more like 20-grit sandpaper.

  9. Wang N Staines

    Cashing out time for Goldman Sachs & Bono, I fear!!!

  10. stickman
    Thumb Down

    $$$

    FB should be paying us for providing the content. $4bn profit last year? they owe every account holder about $10

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No actually, as a FB user you owe Wall Street $125. At $100b value for the company they seem to believe that each and every user is worth $125.

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