Facebook to earn half a billion

by Marketing ON 8 July 2009

Facebook has announced that it is like to earn $500 million this year.

Marc Andreessen, Facebook board member and former Netscape founder, announced the projection and further prophesised earnings in the billions within five years.

Adreessen stressed Facebook’s projections would be over a billion had they pushed harder for advertising. Growing the user base and retaining current numbers were priority one however:

This calendar year theyll do over $500 million. If they pushed the throttle forward on monetization they would be doing more than a billion this year… Theres every reason to expect in my view that the thing can be doing billions in revenue five years from now.

Andreessen said Facebook shareholders currently jettisoning their stock were making a mistake.

Commenting on competitors, Andreessen said Twitter (currently not generating revenue) should follow suit and grow their market share. He criticised MySpace’s focus on advertising rather than improving their platform.

Facebook is allowing certain shareholders to sell to Digital Sky, a Russian firm that in May invested $200 million into the site, as its own initial public offering is a few years away.

Watch out Google, Facebook gets some new digs

by Marketing ON 9 June 2009

The F word just got groovier with an office aiming to mirror the objectives and perspectives of Facebook itself.

In renovating the ex-cube farm, designers and architects O+A mirrored the company’s flat structure with an open-plan design. Facebook staff are seated in groups, with their execs seated in central areas; open-floor, not open-door.

Facebook designer, Everett Katigbak teased cubicle-dwellers everywhere:

“We believe good ideas can come from everywhere. Unlike most companies, we dont have offices or cubicles. Instead, people and teams are seated close together so they can collaborate easily. All of the executives are seated in central areas where they are accessible to all employees.”

Inevitably compared with Google, Facebook has adopted a more minimalist décore. It is also to encourage employees to personalise the space.

Katigbak explained:

“Just as people make the space on the website their own, weve opted to do the same with our physical space. Weve left a lot of the walls white and the spaces unfinished to encourage employees to add the finishing touches.”

Having moved to Stamford Research Park, a former stomping ground of Silicon Valley heavyweights Lockheed Martin and Hewlett Packard, Facebook has retained previous historical elements (including turning an industrial crane into a swivel table).

You can view the full Facebook album of before and after photos here: www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113180&id=20531316728&ref=mf.

Facebook opens Australian sales office

by Marketing ON 4 May 2009

Social networking behemoth Facebook has opened an advertising sales office in Sydney, appointing Paul Borrud as its regional vice president for Australia and New Zealand.

Borrud will lead the operations and build the company’s advertising sales presence in the two countries, aiming at investing in the local market as a strategic way to strengthen its commitment to the region and build on the momentum being generated by advertisers looking to engage more with prospects and customers.

“With its strong user growth and sophisticated digital marketing community, we expect Australia to play a significant role in our global sales strategy. Paul will bring a wealth of experience to this role as he is familiar with our unique value proposition and has experience helping advertisers engage customers on Facebook,” comments Mike Murphy, Facebook’s vice president of global sales.

Borrud was previously responsible for Facebook’s West Coast sales in the US and prior to Facebook, worked at Yahoo! as director of national sales for the Western Region and managed sales process, implementation, and operations.

“We’re excited by having Facebook on the ground here in Australia. The combination of its mass penetration of the Australian online audience, along with strong user engagement on the site, represents a real opportunity in how we address advertising in this market,” says Callum O’Brien, digital director at Sydney-based digital agency New Dialogue.

Weekly Podcast: The Connection Generation

by Marketing ON 4 May 2009

Marketingmag.com.au has teamed up with the guys at Love Digital to bring you this weekly podcast on all things digital.

In this weeks show:

Many of us spend much of our waking hours interacting with a whole
range of connection technologies, from social networking to mobile
phones. Does it actually bring us any closer together?
News in 90: with Kate Kendall – Facebooks new sales office and the annual BrandZ top 100.
Interview: Interview with Iggy Pintado, author of The Connection Generation.