How Facebook could grow its business
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How Facebook could grow its business
Jeremy Hobson: Facebook’s filing late yesterday to sell stock to the public means it’s going to get billions of dollars to spend. After Google went public, it bought dozens of startups.
And Facebook is expected to follow suit, as Marketplace’s Jennifer Collins reports.
Jennifer Collins: To get an idea of where Facebook might spend its money, take out your smart phone and try uploading photos to your Facebook page.
Debra Williamson is an analyst with eMarketer. She’s tried it.
Debra Williamson: Then you go: wait a second, I want to upload 20 photos. I don’t want to upload one at a time and I can’t find a way to do that on my mobile.
Williamson says Facebook needs to improve the mobile experience — especially if it wants to keep attracting new users. Facebook agrees. Six of the eleven companies it bought last year dealt in mobile.
Williamson: I wouldn’t be surprised if they make more acquisitions in the mobile front.
She says Facebook may also buy companies for their human assets: the tech geeks who work there.
Rebecca Lieb is with the Altimeter Group.
Rebecca Lieb: Facebook is probably going to have a bit of an attrition problem when it goes public and creates a bunch of 20-something millionaires overnight. Some of these people are probably going to want to buy homes or travel or drive Maseratis.
Writing code? Driving a Maserati? That’s a tough choice.
I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.
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