Friday Social Round Up:Facebook IPO, Twitter brand pages, that Android ad.

Facebook IPO

Guillaume Paumier

As you’ve probably heard, Facebook has filed for its IPO (International Public Offering). In the supporting documentation, a list detailing some of the risks to the company was made. This included the following:

• If we fail to retain existing users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of engagement with Facebook, our revenue, financial results, and business may be significantly harmed.
• We generate a substantial majority of our revenue from advertising. The loss of advertisers, or reduction in spending by advertisers with Facebook, could seriously harm our business.
• Growth in use of Facebook through our mobile products, where we do not currently display ads, as a substitute for use on personal computers may negatively affect our revenue and financial results.
• Facebook user growth and engagement on mobile devices depend upon effective operation with mobile operating systems, networks, and standards that we do not control.
• We may not be successful in our efforts to grow and further monetize the Facebook platform.
• Our business is highly competitive, and competition presents an ongoing threat to the success of our business.
• Improper access or disclosure of our users’ information could harm our reputation and adversely affect our business.
• Our business is subject to complex and evolving US and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters. May of these laws and regulation are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, and could harm our business.
• Our CEO has control over key decision making as a result of his control of a majority of our voting stock.
• The loss of Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl K Sandberg, or other key personnel could harm our business.
• We anticipate that we will expand substantial funds in connection with tax withholding and remittance obligations related to the initial settlement of our Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) approximately six months following our initial public offering.
• The market price of our Class A common stock may be volatile or may decline, and you may not be able to resell your shares at or above the initial public offering price.
• Substantial blocks of our total outstanding shares may be sold into the market as “lock-up” periods end, as further described in “Shares Eligible for Future Sale.” If there are substantial sales of shares of our common stock, the price of our Class A common stock could decline.

I initially thought listing mobile activity as a possible factor in Facebook’s downfall was odd; I assumed that it meant users were accessing Facebook more often. Admittedly I hadn’t thought about the loss of revenue because of the lack of ads on the mobile platform. However, at the same time adding adverts in the future (which I have no doubt will happen) will reduce the usability of mobile apps, which could put people off using them.

I also can’t see mobile operating systems or networks not being compatible with Facebook in the future since one of the major selling points of phones today is Facebook’s social integration capabilities.

Do any of these risks surprise you?

Twitter brand pages

Twitter has made its enhanced brand pages available to more advertisers, the move aiming to build better relationships with current advertisers. Twitter has confirmed that they will continue to roll out such pages in the next few weeks. “Great!” I hear you all cry, “I can get one for my business/client’s business!” Well, yes, you can, provided that you spend $25k on a sponsored tweet or trending topic. The benefits of the new style page are the ability for brands to tweet messages with more than 140 characters as well as have banner ads and sticky tweets. Companies that already have the brand page include Coca Cola, ASDA, American Express and charity the Red Cross.

Distasteful Android Tablet ad.

An advert for an Android tablet that mocks Steve Jobs has sparked outrage this week. The advert for the ActionPad made by Action Electronics features Taiwanese comedian and impersonator Ah-Ken. Ah-Ken is dressed in Steve Jobs’ trademark black turtleneck and jeans and at the end of the adverts says: “Thank God I get to play with other tablets.”

Action Electronics spokeswomen Chelsea Chen told Reuters that Apple should see nothing wrong with the advert: “Steve Jobs always promoted things that were good for people, Apple products, so his image can also promote other things that are good.”

Apple are yet to comment on the advert, but it is common knowledge that Steve Jobs felt that Google’s Android OS was a rip off of Apple’s iOS.

Inforgraphic Time

As mentioned earlier, Facebook has filled for IPO, so let’s look at the stats!

Photo: Statista.com