Facebook SWOT Analysis 2018

Strengths

• Largest market share of the social media market with 2.2bn users in 2017 according to Statistica.
• Large daily users of 1.5bn according to Statistica.com.
• Owner of WhatsApp and Instagram.
• Facebook users are fond of the like button and get excited about the number of likes they get for each of their Facebook posts/status updates. The more likes the greater the influence the page has.
• Facebook segment their market well by aiming at the B2C (Business to consumer) market and B2B (Business to Business) market.
• Facebook reported revenues of 12 billion dollars and a net profit of 4.9 billion dollars
• India, Indonesia and Philippines currently the fastest growing markets for Facebook.

Weaknesses

• The recent hack of 50 million Facebook profiles has led to negative publicity for Facebook
• Facebook critics have accused the company of not paying the correct levels of tax in countries they operate in.
• The Cambridge Analytica scandal has led to challenging attention from the media and politicians in the US and the UK. This resulted in Mark Zuckerberg refusing to testify in front of UK MPs (Members of Parliament) and a series of public hearings for Zuckerberg before the US congress in April 2018
• Facebook's daily visitors growth slowed down in October 2018.
• Facebook missed its revenue forecast in October 2018.

Opportunities

• To acquire companies that may be a threat to the success of Facebook, eg Snapchat.
• To take advantage of changing advertising trends. Increasingly users access social media through their mobile phones in preference to other devices. Facebook has the opportunity to improve their advertising model for mobile phones.
• To improve the companies image over their data use.

Threats

• Political reform which may impact on the manner in which Facebook operates. For example the new digital tax to be introduced within the UK will mean Facebook will pay a higher tax within the UK
• Threat of a large fine from Europe because of the 50 million hack in September 2018
• Competitors such as Snapchat and other developing social media sites for example Steemit, Vero and Musical.ly
• Documents siezed by British MP's from Facebook investigating the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Conclusion

The SWOT analysis above provides an analysis of the current situation (as analysed in Nov 2018) for Facebook. We hope you found our discussion of Facebook's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats useful.