Facebook Situation Analysis

Facebook is one of the most popular social network websites operated and privately owned by the Facebook Inc. In actuality, Facebook takes the leading position in many English-speaking markets, including the US, Canada and the UK. At the same time, Facebook operates in the highly competitive environment, competing with such giants as Google and MySpace. Nevertheless, Facebook manages to maintain its leadership and outpaces its major rivals, Google and MySpace. In this respect, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that the commercial success of Facebook is the result of the effective marketing strategy used by the company which was oriented on customers, their satisfaction and convenience in use of the company’s services. In fact, the open nature of Facebook became one of the major, strategic advantages of the company which allow Facebook to take the lead in the contemporary business environment.

On analyzing the development and current position of Facebook in the world market, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that the company was traditionally oriented on the full customer satisfaction. Initially, Facebook was created to facilitate communication and enlarge virtual relationships between students of the Harvard University. Gradually, Facebook expanded into the international social network which is accessible to all people over 13. Facebook is open to its users and it does not impose its rules and obligations on users.

Instead, Facebook operates as a mediator which helps people to maintain contacts and to communicate with each other regardless of the physical distance that separates them.

In this respect, it should be said that Facebook attempted to develop user friendly website from the beginning while its services were traditionally characterized by the high quality and reliability. In fact, it was and still the social network which provides users with the possibility to communicate freely online, share data, photo and video. In such a way, users are not limited in their communication. At the same time, Facebook encourages the development of virtual communities since it provides users with the possibility to maintain contacts with each other and communicate any time and in any place without any significant limitations. As a result, users can communicate with their friends and send them any information they consider to be important any time. The freedom and open nature of Facebook is one of the major advantages of the company over its competitors.

On the other hand, the open nature of Facebook has already provoked certain problems in the international market expansion of the company. To put it more precisely, the open nature of Facebook led to the ban of Facebook in such countries as China and Iran. Taking into consideration the fact that Chinese market is particularly perspective for the company and its major rivals, the current lack of access to Chinese market can deteriorate the position of Facebook compared to its rivals in the long-run perspective. On the other hand, such limitations and the lack of access to markets of counties with undemocratic regimes put the company in an advantageous position in other markets. In fact, the open nature of Facebook attracts users, while the major competitors, such as MySpace and Google are less open and limit possibilities for users to communicate freely and use the full potential of the online communication and transmission of data.

In such a way, the open nature of Facebook has a dubious effects on the company’s performance. On the one hand, it puts the company into an advantageous position in the US and other democratic countries. On the other hand, it limits the access of the company to very prospective markets, such as that of China. Consequently, in a long-run perspective, the company may face difficulties with the maintenance of the positive marketing performance and its leadership is likely to be challenged by MySpace and Google, if Facebook fails to get the full access to emerging markets, including Chinese one.

At the same time, Facebook has other advantages to maintain its leadership in the market. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the reliability of its platform and the security of private information of users.  The platform used by Facebook has proved its high reliability, while cases of information breaches are not widely-spread. At any rate, cases of information breaches occur but they are rather exceptional than normal. In addition, rivals of Facebook also cannot provide their users with the full protection preventing the risk of information breaches pointblank.

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that Facebook is still the leader as the social network that operates internationally. The leading position of the company is determined by its successful marketing strategy aiming at the openness of the company to its customers and provision of the wide range of services of the top quality. The company serves as a mediator minimizing its interference in the communication of users. In such a way, the company turns out to be in an advantageous position compared to its major rivals Google and MySpace.



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