Facebook Assignment_Final Version

7/31/2019 Facebook Assignment_Final Version

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Foundation Certificate in MarketingMarketing Research

To : Dr. Ayman Etman

Facebook Case Study

Shady Ramez Nicolas A00040967


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Table of Contents

1-Introduction2-Methodology

Decision Research objectives

3-Findings4-Conclusion5-Recommendation


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1-Introduction:Facebook is a global social networking website that is operated and

privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them

messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends aboutthemselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city,

workplace, school, and region. The website's name stems from the

colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by

university administrations with the intention of helping students get to

know each other better..

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook with his college roommates and fellow

computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris

Hughes while he was a student at Harvard University. The website'smembership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to

other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University.

It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school

students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently

has more than 300 million active users worldwide.

Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked

intermittently in several countries including Syria, China and Iran,

although Iran later unblocked Facebook in 2009. It has also been banned at

many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the

service. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised

several times. Facebook is also facing several lawsuits from a number of

Zuckerberg's former classmates, who claim that Facebook had stolen their

source code and other intellectual property.

A January 2009 Compete.com study has ranked Facebook as the most used

social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace.In April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. population had a Facebook

account. Nevertheless, Facebook's market growth started to stall in some

regions, with the site losing 7 million active users in the United States and

Canada in May 2011.


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2- MethodologyProblem Definition:

Launching Facebook In Egypt or Not and choosing suitable features with its

culture

Research objectives:

1- Demographics population size, and age structure.2-Communications & Computer Users3-Legal situation4-Economical situation5-Competitive Landscape


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Facts & Findings

Demographics

Population83,688,164 (July 2011 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 32.7% (male 13,725,282/female 13,112,157) 15-64 years: 62.8% (male 26,187,921/female 25,353,947) 65 years and over: 4.5% (male 1,669,313/female 2,031,016)

(2011 est.)

Literacydefinition: age 10 and over can read and write

total population: 70.3%

-male: 77.6%

-female: 62.7% (2006 est.)

Computer & internet usageInternet Usage (2009): 12,568,900

Internet Population Penetration: 15.9%

Internet User Growth: 2693.1%


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Communications & Internet

Telephones - main lines in use:9.618 million (2009)

Telephones - mobile cellular:70.661 million (2009)

Broadcast media:

Mix of state-run and private broadcast media; state-run TV operates 2

national and 6 regional terrestrial networks as well as a few satellite

channels; about 20 private satellite channels and a large number of Arabic

satellite channels are available via subscription; state-run radio operatesabout 70 stations belonging to 8 networks; 2 privately-owned radio stations

operational (2008)

Internet hosts:200,336 (2010)

Internet users:20.136 million (2009)


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Economy

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$515.4 billion (2011 est.)

$509.3 billion (2010 est.)

$484.3 billion (2009 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$231.9 billion (2011 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

1.2% (2011 est.)

5.1% (2010 est.)

4.7% (2009 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$6,500 (2011 est.)

$6,500 (2010 est.)

$6,300 (2009 est.)

Current account balance:

-$8.609 billion (2011 est.)

-$4.435 billion (2010 est.)


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Legal Situation

Legal system:

mixed legal system based on Napoleonic civil law and Islamic religious law;

judicial review by Supreme Court and Council of State (oversees validity of

administrative decisions)

International law organization participation:

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; non-party state to

the ICCt

Competitive Landscape


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Conclusion

KSF Weights MySpace FacebookOrkut Twitter

People-to-People

interaction 25% 4 9 5 7

Pace of

Innovation

(features,

etc) 20% 7.5 9 7 7

Networkeffects 20% 6 7 5 9

Applications

available 15% 6 9 6 3

User

engagement 20% 7 8.5 7 7

TOTAL 100% 6 8.5 5.95 6.8

Facebook SWOT Analysis

Strengths

--Currently the Market Leader in SocialNetworking

--Largest social network Company--A platform for millions of applications,including Zynga.--Has a wide audience - Close to Billionactive users--Household brand name--Highest quality of workforce--Has video chat

Weaknesses

--Liabilities regarding bugs and problemsthat users face when operating the website

--Don't get real answers to your problems,have to figure out problems based on FAQs--Lack of ability to customize page--Flash animation banners are distractingand need to be positioned differently so itwon't get in the way of the user

Local Markets Not the leader inkey markets like China, Germany,


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--Corporate Business Partners--Free Communications--Global (NOT IN CHINA)--Diverse sources of Revenue

Design Ease of use,Attractiveness etc.

Target Market Some sitestarget niches, some target goegraphies Activity Focus Target marketcan be connecting people overrelationships, or over shared interests User Engagement Site needsto retain user minutes Transactions Innovativefeatures like applications, people youmay know, pokes, comments, likes etc.,serve to increase user transactions.

Japan, India User Engagement There are

earlyreports of Facebook fatigue.Not everyone is a fan of their newdesign

Applications FB usersfrequently complain about theclutter brought about byapplications

Infrastructure Costs FB hasbeen EBIT positive for 5 quartersbut is not turning a profit because of(theorized) huge depreciationexpenses for data centers etc.

It is not being able to monetizeitself in keeping with the growthtrajectory

Keeping the user base intact Much of the recent growth has comefrom older people (and not the earlytech-savvy adopters like earlier).The challenge is to not alienate theoriginalFB users.

Opportunities

--Become a default address book--Advertising impact will be anopportunistic approach in reaching targetmarkets globally--Way of showing consumer behavior for

businesses--A way of drawing people into stores byoffering promotions etc. to them via thefacebook page--Businesses can collect user data throughpolls and surveys--Buy/sell via Facebook marketplace Privacyprivacy filters and controls Entry Barriers Easy sign ups Trust Different outlooks to Trust. Localization Local content,

languages etc.

Threats

--Copycats include Companies like Google--New entrants into the industry--Privacy settings- leak millions of photos

a year--Spamming--Users get bored easily when using

applications and programs(one timeusage)--Other competitors- twitter


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Recommendation

TOWS Matrix STRENGTH

1. Huge active userbase.

2. Popular Platformfor application

development

3. Present in allgeographies

4. Translated inover 40

WEAKNESSES

1. Weak atmonetizing the

user base and

delivering a

high number ofads per user

2. Inability tomanage

application

feeds leading to

Focus on monetization to improve valuations when

it needs to go in for further funding.Use the Status Updates to deliver targetedadvertisements

Deliver Local advertising based on user locations.

Monetization

The display of updates from applications annoysusers & results in comparisons with MySpace. Thisshould be controlled

Privacy concerns from Apps to be addressedClutter forces users to miss out on news about thepeople they are interested in

Applications (rules &controls)

Improvement in storage, archival and search in theemail and chat functions. (challenge is for FB to

become the users primary email and chat client.)Solve the problem of how businesses can contactcustomer looking for services in a manner that doesnot infringe privacy

Communications


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languages

5. Email and Chatare integrated

clutter on the

website &

reactions from

users

OPPORTUNITY

1. Advertising ismoving towards

Targeted ads and

not blanked

advertising. FB is

perfectly

positioned for this

since it has a huge

amt. of personal

user information

and preferences.

2. Improve Emailand Chat

S - O

1. Increase targetedadvertisements

and develop

local ads A

way of showing

products relevant

to the users

location.

2. Improve qualityof the integrated

email and chat

apps.

O - W

1. Work on waysto reduce the

increasing

amount of

clutter on FB

homepages

2. Create moremonetization

opportunities

THREATS

1. Social networkingaudience is fickle

and thy frequently

shift providers

2. People may growtired of the highlystructured FB and

move to MySpace

3. People haveprivacy concern

S - T

1. Try to deliverlocalized content

and ads (i.e.

move beyond the

language

translations)

2. Improvedevelopment

platform on

aspects like

security, privacy,

monetization and

T - W

1. Always keepenhancing and

innovating

features to keep

users coming

back to the

website.

2. Increaseopportunities

to customize

pages without


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with Facebook

4. Risk of losingyoung, hip image

limit clutter. ruining design

Marketing Mix (4Ps)

PRODUCT

The first P is the product, social network has products like friendster, myspace, twitter,

linkedln, facebook etc which satisfies many social need because it enable friends and

relatives as well as loved ones to interact electronically without physical meeting

PROMOTIONS

Many organizations, groups, and individuals use social network to inform, persuade and

remind consumers about the organizations product or services. It has to do with

communicating about the product to the final consumer. It is made up of activities such

as advertising, sales promotions, personal selling, public relations and publicity.

PLACE

Social network can also be used as the gate way for individuals, organizations and group

to sell their offerings to the general public. It also directs users to a website where goods

and services have been posted for sale. Production is said not to have been completed

until the goods and services have gotten to the final consumer.

PRICE

Price is very important and sensitive in the mix because, when price is high, all things

been equal consumers will shift their demand from the product in question to the

competitors product and the product will fail.

Documents

Facebook Assignment_Final Version