Get comfortable with your profile; Facebook is here to stay. Despite the growing competition, Facebook, a social network that started just over 8 years ago in 2004, has a stronger foothold on the market than ever.
It is no mistake that Facebook is so ubiquitous. Try to listen to music on Spotify, and you will be asked to connect to Facebook. Try to read some news article from Yahoo, and you will be asked to connect to Facebook. What is even more absurd is that Facebook’s influence extends past the digital world. Look at any typical advertisements, and you will most likely see at the bottom the practically generalized phrase, “Like us on Facebook.” A few years ago, it would not be wrong to refer to Facebook as just a social network. Do so today, and it will be a huge understatement. Facebook has crept its way into so many corners of our lives, it’s hard to imagine life before it.
In addition to being a tremendously popular social network, Facebook is also used by various people for various means. It is practically essential for businesses to have a Facebook page to reach consumers, even for Facebook’s main competitor. Students have popularized the use of Facebook in classes (in fact, the course for which I am writing this blog has a Facebook group). Senators have taken to the social network their contentious campaigns. Various news sites, such as Yahoo and CNet, use Facebook to help promote their articles. Many App developers use their Facebook page in place of a regular web page. This is the key factor that Facebook’s predecessors, including MySpace and Hi5, do not have. Facebook is so infused in our lives, removing it would require a surgery.
It is easy to mistakenly make the argument that it is not Facebook that is infused into our culture but rather social networks in general. After all, if a competitor were to completely replace Facebook, that would effectively make Facebook go away. Indeed, many have tried; none have succeeded. For the purposes of this article, let’s take a look at two of Facebook’s chief competitors, Twitter and Google+. Both social networks came after Facebook, and both have tried to unseat Facebook from its top dog position. Twitter delivered a giant blow when it struck a deal with Apple to integrate Twitter right into iOS 5. Google, too, leveraged its position as the creator of Android to put Google+ in front of billions of Android users. However, the efforts of these two social networks have been nothing but a chink in Facebook’s armor. As of March 2012, Twitter had 140 million active users. Last month, Google+ announced that it had 100 million active. Both numbers seem admirably large. Compare that, however, to Facebook’s over a billion active users, announced just this morning. To put that into perspective, Twitter’s and Google+’s active users combined is only a quarter of Facebook’s. Perhaps, the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said it best, “We talk about social networks in the plural, but I don’t see anybody other than Facebook out there.”
Facebook’s weakness in the mobile arena is no secret. For this reason, many people, including CNet’s Molly Wood, believe that this is the one chance for a competitor to dethrone Facebook. Instagram is a perfect example of this. Instagram is a photo-centric social network available only on iOS and Android devices. Instagram’s popularity in the mobile space is something Facebook can only dream to have. However, upon careful inspections of various social network start-ups, this is unlikely for two main reasons. First of all, many of these social networks still connects back to Facebook to facilitate their growth. Three popular mobile social networks, Instagram, Path, and Pinterest, all have the option for users to connect back to Facebook and share all their activities. This links back to just how ubiquitous Facebook is. Even fellow social networks have to have the option to connect to Facebook.
The second reason why Facebook’s defeat is unlikely is that Mark Zuckerburg and his team are not just sitting around waiting for someone to conquer the mobile space. Facebook has been focusing its effort on mobile. Last month, Facebook significantly upgraded its mobile iOS app, and its mobile use doubled. Let’s also remember how much money Facebook has in its pocket. If you can’t fight ‘em, buy ‘em (Instagram). It is going to take a lot more than a start-up to defeat Facebook, even in the mobile arena.
If you are one of the people waiting for the phenomenon that is Facebook to die down, don’t hold your breath. Facebook has proven that it has what it takes to stay. There will always be competition. Google and Twitter are not going to let Facebook just take away the social network market. However, Facebook will remain the dominant social network for the foreseeable future. About how that will affect us users is an entirely separate topic, and that will deserve its own article.