Report 1 Essay

Submitted By irah1991
Words: 545
Pages: 3

INFT6060 – The Digital Economy
Assignment 1 – Innovative IT.
A Case study.

Technologically mediated Social Networking arguably began more than 35 years ago with the gradual introduction of email, but it has certainly come a long way since then. Now we have Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Myspace, HubCulture, Instagram and many, many more! Social Networking has become one of the most significant internet applications.
These url’s provide an introduction to the theory of Social Networks and the technological services that are now being provided to support Social Networks over the internet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networkingservice, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_(disambiguation) Given that there was so much interest in Social Networking many people believed that those companies offering successful Social Networking Services would inevitably become very profitable businesses. Counterintuitively however, in 2012 “Facebook” was launched on the Stock Exchange. Within a week it’s share price had fallen by 15%, and it continued to fall for some time!
In the last week 0f 2013 surveys seemed to suggest that younger users of
Facebook now are beginning to see it as “uncool” – they seem to prefer
Instragram and even Whatsapp. What went wrong (if anything)? Is it surprising that Facebook now owns both Instagram and Whatsapp.
In this essay you are to provide a summary of internet based Social Networking
(including Facebook) and then to analyse and comment specifically on the present and possible future “business models” of Facebook. Specifically you should consider.



how Facebook intends to (eventually) generate profits how Facebook intends to “protect” its market.

You should consider whether (and how) Porters “five forces” model is relevant to the strategic positioning of Facebook.
Your essay must be based on sound research and carefully referenced using information from a variety of places, including academic (journal) articles, popular and professional press and some web-based sources. Use of examples using this research to illustrate your points is essential.

You should write between 1,500 and 2,000 words covering most of the following points (not necessarily in this order).