The Problem With Facebook Inc (FB) – LinkedIn Corp (LNKD), Google Inc (GOOG)

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In spite of this, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Plus hasn’t been able to generate the same kind of buzz that other social networks have achieved. It’s not only a matter of privacy — users need to have a compelling reason to engage. Tubmlr and Instagram allow young people to share images only with trusted friends and cool people, while LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) provides a great platform for professional interaction. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Plus don’t have such a well defined identity.

The newsfeed redesign that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is implementing may be a positive when it comes to reducing the clutter in terms of information, but Facebook doesn’t stand a big chance at becoming “everyone´s best personalized newspaper,” like Zuckerberg said during the announcement.

Such a thing already exists — it’s called Twitter, and it provides real-time information and interaction with journalists, political personalities, movie stars and all kind of influential people as well as friends and other users who are good at curating and publishing relevant information. Integrating with Twitter as much as possible would be a better idea than trying to replace it if Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) really wants to become a relevant news source.

Bottom Line: Becoming a Utility

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is not going to die; it’s not a transitory fad that will follow the same path as My Space or other failed social networks. It has become so big that everyone needs to be on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), if only just to remain reachable and have access to the service, something similar to a utility in many ways.

Organizing events, congratulating someone on a birthday or uploading pictures from a wedding is where the platform becomes handy, since it’s an easy way to interact with lots of people. But such uses don’t mean spending a lot of time on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) on a regular basis or constantly refreshing your news feed. For a business model depending on advertising, this could mean that growth will be materially slowing down in the middle term.

The article The Problem With Facebook originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Andrés Cardenal.

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