Facebook's IPO filing, released this week, is fascinating for many reasons: We've already covered several angles.
Perhaps the most exciting, though, is the wealth of data about the company that is finally public - from its user statistics to its growth around the world to its finances. I've highlighted and visualized some of the most interesting data in this series of charts.
Picture this: You're at a party, and your good friend introduces you to one of their friends. You two hit it off, and boom - a new friend! You've just become friends with a friend of a friend. In real life, this is a common occurrence. On Facebook, a friend of a friend isn't necessarily an actual friend.
A new study from Pew Internet discovered this and an array of other interesting facts about peoples' Facebook friendships. The researchers found that most peoples' friend lists were not very interconnected. In a friend list with a density of 1, everyone knows everyone. On Facebook the density is quite low at .12 with a maximum density of .42, which means that your chances of knowing a friend of a friend on Facebook fall between 12% and 42%. In its its S-1 filing on Wednesday, Facebook toted 100 billion friendships. What it probably meant to say was 100 billion connections, many of which are dormant.
Facebook is worth $75-$100 billion. If we broke that down by user, it would mean that each individual is worth $118.34. Or, if we're looking at it in terms of revenue from 2011 - $3.71 billion - each user is worth $4.39 in revenue per user per year. Yet Zuckerberg owns 28.4% of Facebook, and holds 56.9% of the voting power.
The world over is reacting to the fact that Facebook has now put a dollar value on 845 million users' personal data. Zuckerberg had something to say about it, too. About three hours after the IPO dropped, he posted a revealing photo to his Facebook page.
On the same day that Facebook announced its IPO, the FoodSpotting app dished up a few new offerings. Now it creates a personalized picture menu for you, the FoodSpotting user, delivering "smart dish recommendations" based on what you like. The "filter wheel" categorizes food into dishes that you want to try and have already tried, and those you hope to never eat again; you can also see how your friends feel about various dishes. FoodSpotting connects to your Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare and Instagram accounts so you can immediately share any food photo you've taken. You can also cruise through nearby locations.
If you've read this far, you've probably already downloaded the app for your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry or Windows phone, and are contemplating not reading the rest of this because you're too busy salivating over your next meal. Get ready for the complete food-pornification of Facebook, curated by you.
You hear that? Nothing, right? That is beautiful, delightful silence. And it will continue for the next three to five months.
That is because the residents of a certain complex in Menlo Park, California have been forced to stop running their mouths following Facebook's S-1 filing for an initial public offering yesterday. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires a "quiet period" for any company preparing to go public. It is a bit of karmic justice for the ruckus caused when a company files its S-1. Facebook will be allowed to communicate some information, but nothing that could possibly influence investors. For a company that values the free flow of information, you might think that would be a problem. For Facebook? Probably not.
When Hugh Hefner founded Playboy in 1953, he famously offered photographers, writers and artists the choice of cash or stock in the then-private company. While most chose cash, a few held onto shares that were worth millions by the time the company went public.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used a similar tactic, which means David Choe, a graffiti artist who was given stock for painting the walls of Facebook's headquarter, worth an expected $200 million when the company's shares start trading publicly. That and other details about who will be instantly wealthy were revealed in Facebook's $5 billion IPO filing Wednesday.
Facebook is about to jump into unfriendly waters. If founder Mark Zuckerberg thought the company faced fierce competitors in Silicon Valley, he is about to find that the denizens of Wall Street are not nearly so forgiving. There are risks to going public. How does the world perceive your company? Can the platform grow and maintain its edge? The trick for Facebook will be to balance the concerns of its shareholders with the need to push the boundaries of innovation. This is no easy task.
In its S-1 filing today, Facebook outlined a litany of risks for the company going forward. Monetizing the mobile user base in a system dominated by its competitors will be a major challenge going forward. Diversifying its portfolio away from its reliance on advertising will be a big task, one that Google has never quite figured out. We take a deep dive into Facebook's risk factors below.
Mark Zuckerberg is on his way to becoming one of the richest people in the world, but when it comes to influence in the worlds of politics and business, he sits in the shadow of his chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg.
Sandberg, 43, is credited for the success of Facebook's advertising strategy. When she joined Facebook in 2008 it had 130 employees and no cash. Three years later Facebook was profitable, 2,500 people worked there and the userbase had jumped from 70 million to almost 845 million. But her career, and influence, began long before Zuckberg sought her out.
Facebook shocked no one by filing an initial public offering of its shares today.
The filing was the first glimpse into the company's inner financial workings and, as expected, Facebook said it would try to raise $5 billion when the company's shares begins trading - a number that could eventually be raised to $10 billion and would ultimately value the company between $75 billion and $100 billion.
Today marks the day that Mark Zuckerberg goes from being the guy who makes world-changing technology to the guy who makes money. (He could be worth $20 billion when all is said and done). And it also means today is the day you stop being a Facebook user and become a Facebook customer.
That can mean good and bad things for you, the end user. But one thing is certain: Facebook will never be the same again.
Editor's note: As part of Facebook's initial public offering announcement today, founder Mark Zuckerberg included this letter to potential shareholders.
"Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected.
We think it's important that everyone who invests in Facebook understands what this mission means to us, how we make decisions and why we do the things we do. I will try to outline our approach in this letter.
