Primary problems
Facebook had to undergo a long and challenging path before accomplishing its current condition. Since its launching in 2004, Facebook faced three primary problems of privacy, competition, and globalization and spreading in different countries worldwide. The problem of privacy accompanied Facebook since its launching. Initially, college students comprised the majority of Facebook users. They shared details of their everyday life via the network including information or photos about parties or drinking alcohol.
In 2005, there was a wave of fear that job seekers, as well as college admission officers, used students’ profiles to find the most appropriate candidates. In 2006, Facebook introduced “News Feed”. It commenced the second wave of indignation concerning the privacy. Users did not like the idea of immediate sharing of their posts with others. In 2008, the application Beacon connected users’ profile data with other 44 sites without their consent.
Such an action led to numerous negatives comments about Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, faced a problem of staying competitive on the early stages of network’s development. Thus, MySpace was the primary competitor of Facebook. Friendster and Orkut were other two significant social networks with a substantial number of active users.
Facebook experienced the third problem of the internationalization and globalization. Mark Zuckerberg faced the challenge to spread the social network throughout the world as far as it was already dominant in the United States of America. However, the globalization became rather a challenge and even failed in some countries. The first aspect of the problem was that Facebook had to compete with already existing dominant sites in different countries. Second, such countries as China and Vietnam banned Facebook at all.
Insights and potential decisions
The primary insight from the case study concerning the problem of privacy refers to the fact that Facebook always has taken into consideration the desires of the target audience. For instance, when the dissatisfaction about “News Feed” arose, “Facebook introduced modifications to News Feed and Mini Feed that gave them more control over what would go into feeds and who would be allowed to see them” (“Facebook 2012” 4).
The insight from the second problem is about the necessity to find all possible variants to stay competitive in the market. Finally, the globalization is essential for the efficient expansion of the social network. Facebook chose the most appropriate decision for the first problem.
It modified the social network to satisfy consumers’ needs. In the second case, Facebook had to find support from other organization to continue its growth. In the third case, the effective globalization could be achieved with the help of the profound analysis of the new market and choosing the most appropriate strategy for the presentation of the social network.
Potential courses of action
Facebook had to follow users’ comments concerning privacy. However, the social network managed to alter users’ perception of privacy gradually by making such features as “News Feed” or “Like” button attractive. Mark Zuckerberg found support among such companies as Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple to stay competitive. Then, it was necessary to make Facebook attractive for users.
The introduction of applications and additional features increased the interest rate. Potential actions may include the analysis of users’ interests and adapting the website towards their preferences. The process of Facebook internationalization is the most challenging. There is no way out in countries that prohibit the usage of Facebook. However, Facebook should find representatives from different states who will work for the creation of the most relevant content for the particular target audience.
Works Cited
Facebook 2012. Web.