Facebook is Moving Beyond the Online Saturation Point

Saturation point – it’s a term that many business owners never want to hear, particularly if growth is still a large part of the business plan, but it’s a stark reality for some of the world’s largest digital corporations like Facebook and Google. They’re aware of it too. Ever wondered why the likes of Google are pushing advancement in terms of technology and innovation outside of the area of search? And why would Facebook be invested in a project like Internet.org?

The hard truth is that Google’s revenue, which largely comes from their AdWords platform seems to be slowing down in terms of growth and, Facebook are seeing a decline in the percentage of young people joining the social platform. So what would you do? You start searching for new innovative ways to either attract more customers and you also begin to invest in other parts of the industry. It’s the whole ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ analogy. With the momentum of everyday objects becoming digitised, the possibilities for corporations like Google and Facebook are endless.

The Director of APAC at EngageSciences, Benji Hall, recently wrote an article for Marketing Mag and wrote that Facebook’s, “ …response has been to quickly extend its tentacles into new areas – health, virtual reality, the office, drones and even banking – in an attempt to carve out a powerful new role for itself. When you consider the speed with which our world is becoming digitised, it makes total sense” (Hall, 2015).

A hot topic recently has been the two giants entering the realm of the internet and connectivity. Google has its Project Loon, which we have blogged about in the past here and Facebook has the Internet.org project. You may have seen some of the television commercials floating between segments of your week night viewing. “Facebook is working with telcos as part of Internet.Org by Facebook, which aims to connect more people from developing countries to the internet by using his social network and other services as the lures” (Ramli, 2015). Whereas there are, “Rumours that Google might offer wireless service along with Android phones surfaced earlier this year, but the company didn’t confirm those rumors until this week,” (CNBC, 2015) in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress.

Zuckerberg spoke about Internet.org and Project Loon when he was recently asked about it at the Mobile World Congress earlier in the week. In an article published by Smart Company Zuckerberg was reported as saying that, “[He] was more interested in discussing ways his social networking giant could partner with telcos around the world to deliver temporary free broadband” (Sadauskas, 2015).  TechCrunch report that when he was asked about collaborating with Project Loon, he said, “Sure… I would love to do more with them, and Sundar (Pichai, Google SVP) talked about their apps being more in partnership with Internet.org” (Constine, 2015). But speculation has made some think that, “What he meant was that the barriers to access are really the cost of data plans and lack of education about why the Internet is important” (Constine, 2015).

What does it all mean? Essentially the two corporations are looking to extend the reach of the internet so that an even wider proportion of the world’s population, particularly in developing nations, have access to the World Wide Web. This will of course equal an even larger percentage of users for Facebook and Google. Internet accessibility is of course the one vital ingredient they must ensure the population has so long as they want to grow. The potential dividends will largely benefit them.

There are many lessons in this unrolling digital play for the Australian SME. Taking a look at your business plan and what you offer can certainly be all-consuming, but ‘placing all your eggs in one basket’ could equal disaster. Put out the feelers and see what avenues your business can be taking on board; even if this means adding a SEO strategy to your already existing online strategy. It’s all about longevity and we’re here to make sure your business lasts online for a lifetime (and beyond!) so visit our website or call us on 1300 859 600 today.

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