Facebook: The Billion Dollar Small Company

Water vehicles are commonly used to describe the size of companies in business circles. The metaphor indicates the size of the company and its ability to change direction. Big companies are huge cruise liners with massive onboard resources, but an inability to change direction may leave them like the titanic; while small companies with less resources, but less bureaucracy, are able to change direction with the tide and trends, outpacing the bigger companies. But is it possible to become a big company and still be nimble?

Facebook seems to be personifying the latter. Last year the company was being criticized for its lack of mobile strategy and in 12 months they have completely changed direction and proved the critics wrong. In the video above, Thinktank founder Scott Galloway discusses Facebook’s growth strategy and states:

“They have been able to pivot like no other company. They did not have a mobile product couple of months ago and now it is 41% of their advertising revenue, a third of their revenue, and recently they enhanced the facebook exchange. This is a company that is literally able to develop a robust products that impact and move the needle, and it is getting to be a big needle. The speed at which they have managed the transition to mobile is particularly impressive.”

Galloway is correct in his analysis, what Facebook has achieved in such a short period of time is quite impressive. Tech companies are typically known for being more nimble and innovative than other sectors, but Facebook is particularly adamant about it. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been cited in numerous interviews as being committed to keeping a certain company culture, one that is even more innovative than Google. So far, Mr. Zuckerberg and the Facebook team seem to be achieving their goals.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top