Facebook is quickly closing in on competitor MySpace (at least in the US) when it comes to number of unique monthly visitors. In fact, it is expected that Facebook will surpass MySpace later this year. That kind of growth takes a lot of money to support, somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million per month, some report.
In November of 2007, Microsoft invested $240 million into Facebook – which at the time was estimated to be worth $15 billion (although many believe that number is extremely inflated).
Currently, Facebook does not have any revenue model in place that will keep up with the demand and expenditures it is incurring. They are rumored to have about $200 million in the bank, but simple math tells us that won’t last forever.
So the question is: How will Facebook make money off of it’s 200 million users?
One recent report suggests the idea of charging $1 per month, or a flat $10 per year, for Facebook “membership”. What do you think? Those I talked to would rather find somewhere else to spend their time (and money) than paying for what is currently free.
If the music piracy ‘industry’ is any indication, people don’t like to pay for what they are used to getting for free.
What do you think? Would you pay $1 per month? More? Would you walk away if they started charging?
Shaun has helped hundreds of people around the globe grow their business. His passion is helping small- and medium-sized companies expand their brand online.
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