As Facebook heads rapidly towards owning two platforms with a billion users, the company is aggressively buying up companies that will enable it to own the Internet in future, going head-to-head against dominating Google.
WhatsApp has already reached 700 million users, and is gearing up to offer free mobile calls, while Facebook is increasing its video reach, and stepping into voice recognition. Liron Segev, Swift Consulting CEO and tech blogger, says Facebook is setting itself up to be all things to all people, and to own the Internet.
Recently, the company has ramped up its efforts - which started in earnest when it spent $19 billion to buy WhatsApp last February - and has added several new offerings to its line-up. Segev says Facebook is becoming aggressive in its targeted acquisitions. "They are fast, furious, hungry and going at it."
Spending spree
Just yesterday, the company's latest target was announced, as QuickFire Networks's CEO Craig Lee posted a message on its Web site saying "we're excited to announce today that we are joining Facebook".
QuickFire provides technology that reduces the bandwidth needed to view video online, which it claims it does without degrading video quality. "We're ready to take the next step in our growth. Facebook has more than one billion video views on average every day and we're thrilled to help deliver high quality video experiences to all the people who consume video on Facebook," wrote Lee.
Facebook has realised that video will be a hot trend going forward, and is acting now to capitalise on that, says Segev. Cisco has already predicted that mobile video traffic will increase 14-fold between 2013 and 2018, accounting for 69% of total mobile data traffic by 2018.
Facebook itself is seeing phenomenal growth in the uptake of video, with several reports yesterday saying videos on the site's news feed more than tripled year-on-year. Its purchase of QuickFire follows its acquisition of voice recognition company Wit.ai earlier this week.
Disruptive plans
Segev says these aggressive moves mean that Facebook can start being disruptive once it has integrated its purchases. He expects it to soon start launching a series of products on the back of the deals.
"The Internet of the future may boil down to two powerhouses competing against each other: Facebook and Google," says Segev. He notes Facebook is taking Google on at every avenue, and has the advantage of being able to learn from the search giant's mistakes.
Segev would not be surprised if Facebook launched an OS in the near future, noting it is doing everything it can to make sure that it keeps users - especially younger people - in its ecosystem. He add, however, that Facebook has not made the mistake, like Microsoft initially did, of closing itself off as it is OS and device agnostic.
Facebook is now challenging Google on all levels, and Google's Internet dominance is set to come to an end, says Segev. He notes WhatsApp has already become the go to messenger of choice.
Vestact adds WhatsApp is now closing in on Facebook in terms of its user base, as it has hit 700 million subscribers, a faster rate of growth than Facebook itself. Adds Vestact analysis, it took Facebook 25 months to get from 200 to 700 million users, it took WhatsApp only 21 months. "It seems that Facebook will be a company that has two platforms (soon) that have one billion users."
In addition, Instagram - which is also owned by Facebook - has already hit 300 million users, surpassing Twitter. "It is hard to believe that Facebook has only been listed since 25 May 2012, and as a business it has only been around for 11 odd years." The social network's share price has doubled since listing, adds Vestact.
"The golden rule is he who makes the gold rules, and Facebook has the gold, and is getting to a point where it can dictate to its users," says Segev.
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