In the not too distant future predicts Mikolaj Piskorski Facebook will follow us and call half the planet customers. Editor s note Now years old Facebook s growth is starting to slow. That s one reason it purchased What sApp last month in a jaw dropping deal valued at billion. What might the next decade be like Harvard Business School Associate Professor Mikolaj Piskorski an authority on why and how people use various online social platforms makes some predictions.
In the first decade of its existence Facebook aided by the broad adoption of mobile devices and fast internet connections emerged as a virtual Cheers bar where people share their lives with a legion of geographically dispersed friends and acquaintances and reconnect with faces from the past. First college students then Millennials and soon after their parents and Chinese Overseas America Number Data grandparents were drawn in by the allure of this pioneering social network that effectively shrank the world down to a portable and vibrant community. The company recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and for much of that time Facebook s stunning growth—more than . billion users worldwide—has been the story. That said the core Facebook functionalities have remained essentially unchanged for the past several years and so pundits wonder whether Facebook s attraction has peaked. The apparent disappearance of teenagers from the site has made these concerns even greater.
I disagree with this conclusion. Teenagers will return to the site when they are older and Facebook will continue to grow in size particularly in India Indonesia Brazil and Africa. “BEAR LITTLE RESEMBLANCE TO ITS CURRENT LOOK AND FEEL” But what will Facebook look like a decade from now In Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will turn . His creation will then undoubtedly bear little resemblance to its current look and feel. A decade of technological progress will result in major changes and I believe the site will morph into a potent and active force in people s lives.