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View Full Version : Facebook posts staggering usage numbers



Harold Mansfield
01-27-2016, 07:21 PM
Today Facebook announced earnings as well as usage numbers via Zuckerberg's Facebook profile. Add them up and it's 3.69 Billion users. I'm sure some of them are cross overs, but still pretty staggering.

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In total for the full year 2015, Facebook said its revenue came in at $17.93 billion — an increase of 44 percent year-over-year.
source: Facebook Q4 earnings (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/27/facebook-q4-earnings.html)

Love it or hate it, you can't deny it's global domination.

Owen
01-27-2016, 09:16 PM
I find it so cute when people say "Facebook is dying". It's not dying, your personality is. Look at their numbers.

Harold Mansfield
01-27-2016, 10:28 PM
It's the thing that people love to hate, but can't get enough of. It's funny to see people complaining about Facebook, while they're on Facebook. As if they're mandated to use it.

Fulcrum
01-28-2016, 07:48 AM
What is this Facebook that you speak of? Just kidding of course. I think I only go on it every couple of months, and that is to see if anyone is trying to reach me.

I don't think Facebook is dying yet, but I do think that they are on that path. If the majority of their users realized how intrusive (big data collection), and actually did something about it, Facebook would be in serious trouble.

turboguy
01-28-2016, 08:50 AM
Facebook's stock is up about $ 12.00 a share in the premarket after posting those numbers. I don't see any trend away from Facebook. I tend to think it will keep growing and the profits it makes will keep going up. Twitter however is another story.

vangogh
01-28-2016, 11:14 AM
Obviously good news for Facebook, but thought I'd add a little perspective. $17.93 billion sounds like a great year (and I'm sure any of us would gladly take it), but Google's revenue for Q3 in 2015 (they announce Q4 on Monday) was $18.7 billion. That's for a quarter and not a full year. Earlier in the week, Apple announced their revenue for Q1 2106 at $75.9 billion. Their profit for the quarter was $18.4 billion or more than Facebook's revenue for the year.

Facebook is doing well and their stock should go up, but before they take over the world they have to get past some other companies first.

I also think Snapchat has been growing faster than Facebook, particularly with millennials. Fast forward a generation and a community other than Facebook could be at the top. That's not to say Facebook isn't doing well. Even someone like me who never uses Facebook, does use Instagram. Facebook definitely deserves credit for these numbers and they are clearly growing in terms of both people using something Facebook and the money they're taking in. Congrats to them.

Owen
01-28-2016, 11:46 AM
Obviously good news for Facebook, but thought I'd add a little perspective. $17.93 billion sounds like a great year (and I'm sure any of us would gladly take it), but Google's revenue for Q3 in 2015 (they announce Q4 on Monday) was $18.7 billion. That's for a quarter and not a full year. Earlier in the week, Apple announced their revenue for Q1 2106 at $75.9 billion. Their profit for the quarter was $18.4 billion or more than Facebook's revenue for the year.

Facebook is doing well and their stock should go up, but before they take over the world they have to get past some other companies first.

I also think Snapchat has been growing faster than Facebook, particularly with millennials. Fast forward a generation and a community other than Facebook could be at the top. That's not to say Facebook isn't doing well. Even someone like me who never uses Facebook, does use Instagram. Facebook definitely deserves credit for these numbers and they are clearly growing in terms of both people using something Facebook and the money they're taking in. Congrats to them.

I always thought of Google as different from Facebook. Google clearly has taken a large initiative to grow in terms of revenue by buying many different companies and offering lots of products, the largest being Adsense, which Facebook lags behind on. They never really invested into new products like Google has, the only successfulish one I've seen is Oculus, assuming you don't count Instagram which doesn't make much money.

vangogh
01-28-2016, 12:26 PM
Google and Facebook are definitely different companies that do different things. I'd disagree that Facebook is lagging though. Both Google and Facebook buy other companies and both attempt to create products. In Google's case, I can't think of anything aside from their search algorithm that they actually created and people use. AdWords/AdSense, YouTube, Android were all companies that existed prior to Google buying them. I think Google has improved all three, but they didn't create any of them. I guess Maps was a Google creation and that turned out well.

Also while they may be different, they both make their money the same way, Advertising. Google matches ads to what people search for and Facebook matches ads to demographics and relationships. Google also makes use of demographics and relationships, but not as well. Both companies want to be your home page. They want to be your portal to everything else online. I think Google more than any company should be worried about Facebook, because despite their differences, they compete on the same field. Both make their money from advertising. I couldn't find a recent statistic, but I think advertising revenue still accounts for more than 90% of Google's revenue and it accounts for about 75% of Facebook's revenue.

Google currently makes a lot more money as I mentioned in my previous post, but things change. I don't know this from direct experience, since I don't advertise through either platform, but much of what I've read the last few years suggests that Facebook is the better place to advertise because you can better reach the specific people you want to reach.

Having said all that, I fully expect both companies to be around and doing well for awhile. I assume if we're having this conversation in 10 or 20 years we'll still be talking about both companies. Then again 20 years ago we all would have said Microsoft dominated the entire world and that was the first mention of them in this thread.

Harold Mansfield
01-28-2016, 12:34 PM
I don't think Facebook is dying yet, but I do think that they are on that path. If the majority of their users realized how intrusive (big data collection), and actually did something about it, Facebook would be in serious trouble.

Everything is big data collection. From your DMV to what you watch on TV and it has been since social security numbers were first issued. Whether or not you use the obvious data collection sites like Facebook and Google, you can't hide from it.

Best rule of thumb is, if it's free..you're the product.

The problem is that people are instinctively cooperative and willfully give up personal and identifying information, and then complain that they've done it. All you have to do is ask. Something as simple as signing up for a newsletter asks for your name and birth date. That's all you need to connect to other data sources that also have that information.

Most small businesses are not into data collection for anything other than their own customers and users, but that's also as old as business itself. It's just easier and more detailed now for the larger players.

You don't have to give up your information. You can keep what you give to websites to a minimum, have aliases, use email accounts that only have the information that you've given them for signing up for things, and many other ways to control what identifying information you give out. Some of this goes back to my post a few days ago about people who only have one email address and use it for every single thing. You make it easy to track your entire life..every purchase, every website you visit, everything you've ever signed up for or done online and offline.

But it's still a losing battle. Everyone from the Government to your insurance company has already sold you out decades ago. Facebook is the least of your worries.

Brian Altenhofel
01-28-2016, 05:13 PM
If the majority of their users realized how intrusive (big data collection), and actually did something about it, Facebook would be in serious trouble.

Most people really don't care. They may claim to, but as soon as a service is taken away that was providing value because of that data, they complain immediately. Just imagine if location-based services suddenly quit working indoors where GPS can't penetrate because WiFi AP databases were shut down.

You could put up a terms of use that users must agree to before using your website, complete with a requirement that they scroll all the way through to the bottom before it will allow them to agree. It can say explicitly that you will sell all of their information to the highest bidder as well as their second-born child (Uncle Sam already claimed the first born, and the government hates competition). I guarantee you 95% of the users that want to use your website will agree to those terms without reading.

Humans are extremely predictable, by the way. You actually don't need much data to predict whether a user will be interested in something and if they are whether they will buy or not. You don't even really need that much data to determine who to sell through at a company for the best chance of landing a contract. Sadly, most business neglect to make use of available data.

Harold Mansfield
01-28-2016, 05:28 PM
Not only don't most people really care as much as they say they do, they continue to willfully post information about themselves all over the internet from their exact location, to when their homes will be empty, to what they just purchased, to where they work, to what school their kids go to and what time they get out.

Facebook and Google aren't "stealing" anything. People are intentionally making their lives public.

Owen
01-28-2016, 10:04 PM
Facebook and Google aren't "stealing" anything. People are intentionally making their lives public.

You just basically described the NSA, FBI, and CIA's wet dream.

Brian Altenhofel
01-28-2016, 10:29 PM
My favorite posts on Facebook are the copy/paste "surveys" that consist of commonly used "security" questions, especially when they are shared publicly. Most security questions make accounts more insecure (largely because the answers tend to be matters of public record), yet they also make users feel more comfortable.

Owen
01-28-2016, 10:47 PM
My favorite posts on Facebook are the copy/paste "surveys" that consist of commonly used "security" questions, especially when they are shared publicly. Most security questions make accounts more insecure (largely because the answers tend to be matters of public record), yet they also make users feel more comfortable.

My favorite ones are when people copy and paste this post because there's a rumor that Facebook is going to delete something so they all post this thing that makes it sound like they have full legal rights to their posts and Facebook has no legal right to delete their posts. It usually looks like this:

"As of January 3rd, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. Central standard time. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308-11 308-103 and Rome statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish this statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE you MUST copy and paste this.... I will leave a comment so it will be easier to copy and paste!!!"

These people figure their super amazing legal post with big legal sounding words will override a terms of service agreement, and whenever I see it I contemplate just deleting my Facebook to spare me the pain. It's not like it's just clueless and naive teenagers posting this, I see ADULTS doing this too.

vangogh
01-29-2016, 12:56 PM
Count me with everyone who says people care less about privacy and big data than they say. I do care and I actively make choices to protect my privacy, but the handwriting is on the wall and big data isn't going away. People will happily give away their privacy in exchange for a product or service they find useful. I know that I'm only delaying the inevitable.

I don't think Facebook is going anywhere, any time soon, though I can easily see a future without Facebook. If everyone is on Facebook, then it's the one place teens and young adults won't want to be. All it really takes to stop using one social network is for most of your friends to use another one.

Harold Mansfield
01-30-2016, 12:51 PM
If you do business online it's impossible to be anonymous. As a matter of fact if you're in business at all, it's impossible to stay anonymous online. No information about you anywhere just makes people suspect. You have to be out there if you want to be found.

But it is possible to separate your personal life/persona from your business persona and still never use any specifically identifying information that would give anyone the sensitive things like your address, real phone number, or any personal or financial information.

For the most part though, it's a losing battle. The information is already out there and readily available for marketers, the government, and the companies that you do business for things like Mortgages and Insurance. At this point the best you can hope to do is thwart the average grifter who doesn't have access to the good databases and just trolls online looking for an opportunity.