Since Facebook has allowed subscriptions from non-student populations, the membership rolls have exploded at triple-digit growth rates. During its May 24th event, Mark Zuckerberg introduced to an audience of market key players (developpers, journalists and Microsoft, Amazon,) the new developement lines of the 24 million users online social network.
From September till now, the network gained 16 million new members, and an average of 14 minutes spent on the network, compared to 8 in September. Myspace is still way bigger, with more than 60 million members, and a foreseen development in Japan and China. The two companies are in tough competition, even though they play it cool in public appearances. What is Facebook's strategy in this battle?
MySpace (News Corporation) has fostered an anarchic aura with few restrictions on creativity, while allowing users to integrate tools from other companies into their pages, like slide show displays. Recently, however, the company has blocked the efforts of several companies to advertise to MySpace users or otherwise make money through those tools.
Facebook has more restricted features. The interface is less handable, but it actually saved the student's network from web marketing abuses. However, users can choose now to add iLike to their Facebook pages: the software automatically see where they live and what bands and songs they say they enjoy. It then recommends songs and local concerts.
Even more exciting: PicksPal, another company that will work with Facebook, lets users predict the winners in sporting events and awards them points for being correct. The points can be cashed in for prizes. If Facebook users add PicksPal to their pages, their “bets” will be sent as a short message (“George has picked Cleveland over Pittsburgh”) to everyone in their network via Facebook’s news feed, which keeps users constantly updated on their friends’ activities.
Facebook is now encouraging users to develop business activities through their profiles, all-the-while trying to keep spammers away from invading people's privacy. From the far, it looks like Facebook is aiming at turning into some kind of Ebaid Myspace, to combine the desire to make contacts to the need of making money.
Maybe whatever Facebook does, it will keep growing, benefiting from the viral hype. Yahoo! has already put $900 million on the table to acquire the student social network. Unsuccessfully. As they all claim it in the C-sphere of Facebook, "we are not for sale!". How long is this going to last?
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