Facebook Inc Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Facebook Inc - Term Paper Example User can then enjoy its services including the exchanging of messages, joining groups that suit them like their schools or work places. Facebook was started by Markl Zuckerberg together with his friends and roommates from college. When it started it only gave membership to the students of Harvard. It later spread out incorporating other colleges in Boston. Eventually its number increased to students in high schools and anybody above the age of 13. This does not mean that there are no children below 13 years who have Facebook accounts. A research by Consumer Reports reported that there are about 20 million children below 13 years who have Facebook accounts thereby breaching its terms of service. In 2009, Facebook was ranked as the most famous social networking site. Most fans of facebook commend it stating that Facebook helps them remember their colleagues and friends’ birthdays, bug their friends, play games, chat with long term friends among other uses. Its critics are howeve r complaining that is has become an obsession especially in the United States. They have complained that it is a time waster and supports narcissism. Facebook is estimated to have about 150 million new visitors from the United States in May 2011. Two years ago, it was estimated that about 42% of the population in United States had opened up Facebook accounts. In May 2011, its market growth started deteriorating; it lost 7 million users especially in Canada and the United States. This paper will discuss the market trends, market structure, business environment, pricing strategies, and government role. It will also analyze the nature of its products and services in United States as compared to other countries. 1. Nature of Product/Service Facebook Life cycle A product Life cycle is significant in marketing. These stages are Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. Sales are not as important in the introduction stage not unless the brand has already taken effect. At the introductio n stage, the users are introduced to the service where they are expected to register. Users are able to request their friends to join Facebook. This stage usually has its users using it for communication and networking. At the growth stage, Facebook starts inventing new features but not many registrations come up. This is where users employ the services mainly for commercial use. The maturity stage does not have much going. Registrations greatly reduce, and some users may opt to terminate their accounts. Finally, the decline stage has more people terminating their accounts than joining. A good example of a social site at this stage is MySpace. According to a recent research carried out, investors would rethink of their decision to join Facebook before doing so. This is due to the fact that Facebook is currently at the downward slope of the life cycle, especially in its major markets like the United States of America. Even though Facebook appears to be doing perfectly well as will be discussed in this paper, it is in its third stage, which is maturity, heading to the fourth stage, which is decline particularly in most of its biggest markets in the world. The first sign of its decline was the report on its traffic drop in its largest markets: United States and Canada. The first time, it lost about six million users. It has continually fluctuated around this figure since then. At the same time, UK, Russia and Norway recorded a loss of about 100, 000. Facebook’s reports do not however, indicate these figures, but instead reflects a growth. This growth is said to be gained from countries that have embraced Facebook late. Role of technology Facebook’