Since its inception, Facebook has been a major player in the social media space. Millions of people use it daily. Facebook has had many legal issues over the years. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of the company, has been facing one of the most serious legal problems. This has made some people unable to use the social media platform. Despite these issues, Facebook still dominates the social media space. Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter are all trying to challenge the social media giant, but none have been successful.
Facebook Features
Facebook’s many features help explain why Facebook has dominated digital society. These features have been updated and improved numerous times over time, so you can do an almost endless number of things on Facebook. Each feature serves a particular purpose for the user.
* Newsfeed:
The newsfeed is Facebook’s homepage. It is one of the most iconic features on the Facebook platform. This conglomeration of posts was created by Facebook experts in 2006. Facebook professionals introduced an option that would limit the amount of private information displayed in the public newsfeed after complaints.
* Friends:
Two people are Facebook friends if they have agreed to share their profile information. If you accept a friend, your newsfeed will display their activity. Facebook allows you to unfollow or block someone you don’t want them to see your information. You can also change the time that your newsfeed displays a friend’s activity.
* Timeline:
Your timeline is your base. Your timeline is where you share statuses, photos, videos and any other media with your friends. Facebook organizes everything chronologically. Prior to December 2011, the timeline was known as the “wall”.
* Reactions:
Facebook was founded with the ability to “like” posts. Facebook now offers a variety of reactions to express anger, sadness and love.
* Messages:
Facebook has a section that allows you to privately message one or more people. Facebook has added video to its messaging section over the years so that you can video chat.
* Groups:
Facebook allows you to create secret, closed or open groups.
* Events:
Facebook’s central function is organizing and planning events. You can create an event page and invite as many people you wish. You can invite them to RSVP and post comments, images or videos.
* Marketplace:
Facebook Marketplace allows people to post items for sale, much like eBay and Craigslist.
* Live streaming
Facebook launched a new feature allowing users to stream live video a few years back. The video will appear in your newsfeed, and friends can view it live.
The platform offers many more capabilities and features, with new ones being added every year.
Facebook’s Top Competitors
Facebook is the most used social media site. It was launched in 2004 and became a popular platform in 2006. Many social media platforms and websites attempted to compete with Facebook, but failed. These are Facebook’s top rivals:
* Google:
Although not as powerful as Facebook, Google is still the largest competitor in advertising.
* WhatsApp:
Although WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, its brilliance makes it a formidable competitor to the social media giant.
* Twitter:
Twitter is the most important social media platform rival to Facebook if you only compare them.
* Snapchat:
This app is rapidly growing and has been ranked No. This application is growing quickly and has taken the No.
* Instagram:
Although Instagram was recently acquired by Facebook, it is still a rival to Facebook due to the large number of users.
* LinkedIn:
Although this platform is more focused on professional interactions than on social communication, it is still considered to be one of Facebook’s rivals.
Facebook’s Strategy
Many have wondered why Facebook is still the most popular social media platform. Most social networking platforms are limited in their lifespans before being replaced by a newer, better platform. Facebook is still the most popular platform and users are starting to learn the strategy that keeps it there.
Facebook buys almost any platform or app that could threaten its supremacy. In the past few years, Instagram was acquired by Facebook because of its popularity. Mark Zuckerberg claims that Facebook isn’t a monopoly. However, many people doubt this claim due to the sheer number of social apps Facebook has acquired. Facebook is the owner of three top apps in America: Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook. Facebook Stories was created to rival Snapchat and it is currently working to beat YouTube. It will be more difficult for any other platform or application to beat Facebook the more applications it acquires.
Facebook’s Top Competitors
* YouTube vs. Facebook
People around the globe are baffled by Facebook’s recent attack on YouTube. Facebook Watch was introduced last year by the company. Facebook users were previously able to share and post videos to their timelines. Now there’s a separate page that allows you to search for videos, leave comments and join video groups.
YouTube has faced difficulties with advertising because many large companies have refused permission to place ads on YouTube. Facebook has more power because it has a wider base audience than YouTube. Facebook has a larger base audience than YouTube, which gives it a better understanding of user preferences. This allows Facebook to tailor the Facebook Watch section to users’ video platforms and reduce YouTube’s influence.
* Facebook vs. Snapchat
Snapchat is a fast-growing competitor to Facebook. Snapchat is becoming more popular among young people. They use it to communicate with their friends and have casual conversations. Many people claim that they use Facebook to stay in touch with large numbers of people but don’t post any status updates or photos. On the other hand, a large percentage of millennials use Snapchat daily. According to a Pew Research Center survey, Snapchat is used by 69 percent of those aged 13-17. Facebook is used by only 51 percent. While Facebook was originally created to connect youth, many young people now see it as a platform for their parents and older friends. While Facebook is still a much more powerful social media platform than Snapchat, the demographic shift is worrying for the social networking giant.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook’s Marketplace allows you to search for items in your local area. If you are interested in an item, Marketplace lets you send a message to the seller directly. You can also post items you wish to sell.
Facebook Ads
Facebook does not only offer apps and Instagram-type services. Facebook also offers Facebook Ads. Facebook also offers its own ad server platform that serves ads to other apps and websites, just like Google Ads. The Facebook Audience Network is a collection of publishers that display the ads to support their businesses. These are the types of ads that Facebook offers:
* Video
* Image
* Collection
* Carousel
Slideshow
* Canvas
* Lead Generation Ads
* Dynamic Product Ads
* Ads for Local Awareness
* Mobile App Install
* Special Offers
* After Engagement
* Instagram Mobile App Ads
* Responses to Events
* Page likes
Facebook Page Insight
Facebook Page Insights are the best feature of Facebook. Page Insights, just like Google Analytics provides all details about your FB Page. Page Insights allows us to see which posts are most popular and which ones don’t. This information allows us to make informed decisions about the best content for our Page. Page Insights will allow us to grow our audience and increase the number of people who interact with our business via our FB Page.
The following are Facebook’s Page Intelsights features:
* Reach* Page Views & Impressions
* Actions on the Page
* Engagement in Posts
* Demographics of Audience
Facebook Products
Facebook is more than just social media. Facebook also has many other products that are equally popular. WhatsApp and Instagram are well-known worldwide. Facebook also has partnerships with many third-party businesses. Below are all the products that Facebook has occupied.
* Oculus
Oculus also makes virtual reality and augmented realities hardware and software. Oculus is now part of Facebook. Oculus Go, the most recent VR device launched by Oculus in May 2018.
WhatsApp is a cross platform freeware messaging and chat application. You can also call using voice over IP. WhatsApp is not limited to messaging and chatting. It is used for business and marketing. WhatsApp recently launched “WhatsApp business App”, specifically for businesses. WhatsApp is used by billions worldwide.
* Facebook payments
Facebook Payments allows you to transfer money and get paid directly via facebook payment. It allows users to make transactions with third-party businesses that advertise on the platform.
Facebook owns Instagram, which is the largest photo- and video-sharing social media platform. The most used social media platform by young people is Instagram. Many people use Instagram for branding and marketing purposes.
* Crowdtangle
CrowdTangle, a social media analysis tool that helps publishers and media companies measure their social media performance as well as identify influential people, is CrowdTangle.
* Masquerade
The Masquerade app allows users to use a variety of masks and filters for a variety of activities like photo sharing, editing and video.
Facebook Learning
Blueprint:
Facebook’s reach extends beyond social media. Facebook offers a learning platform that helps users use its products. The learning platform shows us how to use the products in the best way possible for greater exposure. This is called the Facebook blueprint.
Facebook blueprint offers a range of learning courses. Facebook blueprint even takes exams and provides certification. This shows your skills with FB certification. These courses are open to anyone who is interested in sharpening their skills or gaining more business perspective knowledge. FB blueprint offers only courses that are related to Facebook and its products. Other than Facebook courses, blueprint does not offer any other social media courses.
OMG! Snapchat is now Instagram
The Larry Kim Tweet shows that Instagram covers the entire market of young people. It is demonstrating the total incremental growth of Facebook.
Facebook still in front
Facebook’s platform is capable of doing almost everything. It offers news, videos, games, sales, and many other features. Facebook offers all the features that other platforms have, including search engines. Despite multiple data and privacy scandals, Facebook continues to grow every year. Facebook’s seemingly limitless resources and capabilities make it a powerful app that is unlikely ever to stop growing.
