Eight years ago, Facebook was just a coding project in Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room. Currently it has become a global business, which is used by 1/8 of the world’s population, with a annual revenue of $4 billion.
When Facebook started, there were dozens of social networks that had the same opportunities. Facebook won. They lost. We can see that there should be certain reasons that Facebook can be successful and popular. Here are the top four reasons that can even be applied to other businesses too.
1. It’s easy
Comparing with Twitter, Facebook is supper easy to use. You don’t have to master the skills of using @ symbols or hashtags for a successful post. Facebook is not for sharing information or looking for news like Twitter. It’s more likely for real life experiences. You can simply log in with your email account and password, and then write a status about your recent daily life even with pictures sometimes. If you want to tag someone, you only need to write that person’s name in your status, and Facebook is smart enough to help you mention that person automatically. There’s more? It’s also supper easy to update your profile such as a new relationship, new schools or new homes. It allows your friends to see what’s going on in your life more clearly.
2. Frequent upgrades
Facebook loves to push out upgrades to its company. For instance, it has added news feed, timeline, cover photos since it was founded, and list is still going on. Recently, the security and privacy function has also been developed. You can choose the people you want to share your posts with by using a block list for each status. In this case, you are able to avoid those unfriendly stalkers who try to disturb your life. Other than this, Facebook has also repeatedly rolled out new features such as Facebook Messenger, as a platform for people to chat/video call freely.
3. Engaging features
Let’s be honest: Facebook is an addiction for most people, and that’s why I never take my phone with me while studying. The website alone offers a news feed, a messenger, video calls and the ability to follow or like other people’s posts. A new thing is that you can also “react” to other people’s posts such as “love,” “smile,” or “surprising.” Additionally, there is an App Center, which is filled with third-party games. In 2013, Facebook named 23 video games on its top list. Of course, Candy Crash Saga is the one that always pops up on my page.
4. Focus on the product, not the shareholder’s value
On Wall Street, companies are supposed to dedicate all of their efforts on the shareholder’s value, in other words, making the stock prices go up. On the contrary, Mark Zuckerberg is famously uninterested in Facebook’s business in the early days. He continually turned away those advertising clients. Ads were not cool. He wanted Facebook, as a product, to be cool. As Facebook prepared to go public, Zuckerberg wrote a letter to shareholders in which he stated the company's intention to focus on its "social mission" first and its business second.
