Per Gartner, By 2012, Facebook will become the hub for social networks integration and Web socialization.
Market implications:
The number of active users on Facebook—already the largest social network community—is expected to rocket to more than a billion by the end of 2010. More than 15,000 websites, devices and applications have implemented the Facebook Connect APIs and protocols to interface with Facebook. This interoperability will become critical to the success and survival of other social networks, communication channels and media sites. Facebook is simply too big for firms not to factor it into their B2C strategies. Its potential for advertising, communication, marketing and client support is huge. That said, there are two aspects of the Facebook phenomenon that organization should track carefully.
They include:
- Privacy issues, which will only get thornier as Facebook’s role in integration with other websites and networks increases.
- The possible disruptive influence from the Far East, specifically QQ in China, which could outstrip Facebook should the Chinese government allow it to compete on the open market. While this is an unlikely scenario, it remains a possibility and will be tracked closely by Gartner throughout 2010.
