Business

Is the business model Facebook is using viable Which type would you categorize it as being Explain.
In my opinion and by the several readings that I did the business model of the Facebook is feasible Facebook makes money by the advertisements  which are posted on the right side of the its main page.

Facebook is able to make a lot of money because of its advertisement, and it is able to do so because it has attracted advertisers because of a large number of people visiting the site, it is reported that Facebook receives at least 87.7 million unique viewers per month, It is a huge number and has caused the company to make 300 million USD in the year 2008. (Sharon, 2010)

It can be categorized as a social service which makes its major chunk of revenue based on advertisements which is very much similar to a television or a media company.
How do the privacy policies of Facebook interplay with its growth

Although Facebook has been ranked as the largest social networking site, privacy has been a big issue with the Facebook. In the past Facebook has changed its privacy policy several times and has been sharply reacted to by its users.  (VanderVeer , 2008)

It has been blocked in several countries including Syria, China, Vietnam, and Iran, mainly because of its privacy policy.  It is also reported that it is blocked in several large organizations. The Facebook is so popular because it makes everybody life open to other and people have the desire to see what is happening in others life by seeing their photos, status messages and their messages with their other friends if Facebook attempts to restrict this, it will lose it charm and hence it growth will be severely affected. (Shih, 2009)

What anecdotal experiences can you share about Facebook that aligns with the issues brought up in this case study If you havent any, find friends who use Facebook and have them offer their thoughts on it.

I will outline here two of the events, both of which occurred with my friends.
A friend of mine had a very tragic experience, someone faked with the name of his sister who lived in another country on Facebook and asked him to send her a couple hundred dollars, unknowingly that it was not his sister he send the money and later discovered that it was not her but a fake person
He tried his best to trace back the identity of the person but he was not able to do so. This could be argued that this is possible over email or any other instant messaging but the kind of posts the fake person had and the pictures of him with her and his family made him think that its his real sister.
Another of my girl friends found that someone was using the pictures she shared on her Facebook profile being faked and used by someone else. She was very agitated by knowing this but she was unable to do anything.

Where does the social aspect of an e-commerce enterprise fit in the priority of an e-commerce business model. How well and effectively does Facebook social aspect fit in their e-commerce business model

The social aspect of the Facebook fit quite intelligently and surprisingly in the e-commerce business model. There have been no or very few such examples in the past where social networking sites of sites focusing on the social aspects has made such great profits.  (Holzner ,2008)

The e-commerce business model of the Facebook has its strength because the advertisement algorithm that works on the Facebook site only displays the advertisement which matches the keywords and interests of the people .i.e. it is a targeted marketing scheme. (Evans , Bratton , 2008)

What would you do to improve Facebook as an e-commerce enterprise

Facebook business model can be improved by introducing paid services which should not affect the current users who are now addicted to the way it is today but by introducing new paid services.

An example could be an application with which data relevant for a search could be pulled on a cell phone such as nearby restaurants which were liked my several common friends or friends of friends. Another paid service could be a paid game such as Need for Speed which has been very popular.
Paid services would enhance the business of the Facebook as it will make the user pay for more attractive services. This is similar to what hotmail or yahoo did in their earlier years, the paid hotmail and yahoo services removed the advertisements and increased the storage space thus attracting the business people.

Additional features such as pictures enhances could be introduced as a paid service with which  users enhance their pictures as Facebook users share many pictures and it will be a very attractive feature.
Introduction of a paid match making service could also improve Facebook as an ecommerce enterprise.