st be looking for Google-size.compensation, but the two billion dollar figure is arbitrary and difficult to justify. Perhaps Facebook is emboldened by their own wise decision in not selling to Yahoo for $15 million in 2004.
Zuckerberg was likely trying to establish a market value
for his creation, not an unwise move on the face of things. However, Viacom's offer was not by any stretch of the imagination pocket change and the number of entities that can and will double the bid Facebook already got is finite.
Facebook's traffic numbers, as referenced on Alexa.com, during the last three months are not encouraging, that is, if the goal is to fish for more and greater buyout bids. The numbers actually have trended downward since March, anathema for enticing hyper bidding growth. These diminishing statistics can be at least partially attributed to the cyclical nature of the school year since Facebook, after all, is geared towards the college student. It doesn't matter how great the product is, it won't keep students from doing their own thing during summer
vacation and this yearly dip is potentially damaging.
Seeing as how fast online fads can expand and contract in social networking as we've seen in its short time span, what if the numbers don'.come back? What if something new pops up in two months that steals Facebook's thunder? (And, again, MySpace's success serves as good reason why this thunder is worth stealing.)
Facebook.com's success has also been marred with some controversy that could taint its popularity with students. At Syracuse University a flap over freedom of expression ensued when a Facebook.com group went overboard in critiquing a student teacher and ended up with expulsions from the class and social suspension before three students transferred. After Penn State's football team beat Ohio State this year students rushed the field and made a ruckus. Overwhelmed police made only two arrests that day, but later in the week they logged onto Facebook.com and, like Canadian Mounties who always get their man, got plenty of names and faces and photos from the info posted by students about their on-field shenanigans. Kids talk and these stories spread like wildfire, which may affect Facebook.com negatively they can't control misuse of their product and the negative repercussions tha.come from it.
The future is promising for the social networking business space and I don't believe Facebook.com is doomed. S"
