Reporting six months ago on the announcement of an initial public offering by Facebook, this paper sounded a warning to the social networking site. “An increasing number [of users] are likely to feel bruised as they are confronted with the bitter truth that they are mere fodder for a machine that means business,” wrote our consumer correspondent. A marketing expert added: “It takes clever leadership and in-depth understanding of where you can introduce business elements without destroying your value for users.”<\/p>\n
Last week, stock in the company slumped to a new low. Many investors jumped at the first opportunity to offload their shares, reducing the value of the company to \u00c2\u00a334bn, from \u00c2\u00a3104bn at its debut. To some who use Facebook, it was just desserts.<\/p>\n
In many ways, the rise and potential fall of Facebook can be seen as a metaphor for the internet. It was invented in 2004 by a team of college students to fulfil a need that nobody knew they had, and quickly became one of the biggest companies in the world. It went “cash flow positive” in September 2009 with an annual advertising revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars. But although the internet has been around for longer than Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, still nobody really knows how to use it. Or to “monetise” it, as the reports in the past week’s business pages put it.<\/p>\n