Facebook is an American corporation and online social media and networking service which was incorporated in California. The website that first started for high school and college students grew so massively over the years, that it is now used by millions of users around the world and is ranked on number 4 in terms of World’s Most Valuable brand, according to Forbes Just companies list released in May, 2017. This was possible because Facebook kept on working on developing the website and App, also focusing on acquisitions that helped in its growth. People all around the world know about Facebook, which is evidence for its continuous success.
With the increasing trend of using social media in the past decade, many new players have entered the industry. Some of them, including Twitter and Instagram gained a good customer base and have developed a pretty good brand name, while some of them have been completely unsuccessful in doing so. Between all these competitors, Facebook has been able to maintain its position and has emerged tremendously in the past decade. It has risen to the top between all the social networks and has maintained that position for many years. One of the biggest strength that Facebook has is its customer base, which it has developed and which remains growing since its establishment. Even though, their consumers have started using other social media accounts as well, there is a very small percentage of consumers who have completely left Facebook and switched to other networks. This strength remains their biggest competitive advantage among others.
Another competitive advantage that Facebook has over other competitors is the amount of advertisers that they have. Advertisers use Facebook to mainly advertise their products and services when it comes to social media advertising. The Ad feature of Facebook has been constantly developing over the years and is benefiting both the advertisers and Facebook. Facebook has been gaining profits through giving a platform to these companies for earning profits. It can also be noted that many social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have introduced their Ad feature after Facebook, but have not been able to achieve the level of reach that Facebook has.
Their mobile App is also one of their competitive advantages, with developing a separate App for Messenger; they have introduced convenience for the consumers in maintaining their account. According to a report issued on Investopedia (2016), “On a daily basis, global users spend between four and five hours per day on their phones. More than 30 applications reside on the typical smartphone, with three applications accounting for 80% of daily usage. Among all worldwide users, the most popular app summoned each day belongs to Facebook.”
All these factors along with their constant development in terms of research and innovation add up to the competitive advantage of Facebook. They keep on working on developing the website which helps them in providing improved experience to their users and eventually helps in the growth of their business.
References
Facebook on the Forbes Just Companies List. Retrieved December 23, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook/
Tracy, T. (2016, July 2). What Is Facebook’s Advantage Over Other Social Media? (FB). Retrieved December 23, 2017, from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/company-insights/070216/what-facebooks-advantage-over-other-social-media-fb.asp