Abstract

By the end of 2010, Facebook, a social networking company with more than 500 million subscribers, launched a new product 'Facebook Messages', integrating online chat and text messages (from mobiles) with traditional e-mail services. The new service allowed subscribers to use text messages, instant messages, online chat, and email through a single feed known as a 'social inbox'. Observers opined that Facebook aimed to make the new product a one-stop-shop for all Internet-based communication related services, and that this would pose stiff competition to free Internet e-mail providers particularly Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. During the launch of the new product, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, said that the traditional e-mail services were no longer appealing to the younger generation of internet users as they were too slow and because all the services could not be accessed from a single point. Analysts opined that Facebook's new service would further revolutionize digital communications and would become the new benchmark in information technology. This case is meant for MBA students as a part of the Communication, and Information Technology course. It can also be used in a General Management and Strategy course.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the trends in digital communications and how social media has emerged as a potent communication tool.
• Understand the changing competitive landscape of digital communications.
• Discuss and debate how the launch of ‘Facebook Messages’ could impact leaders such as Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft.

Keywords

Online communication, Internet-based communication related services, Digital communications, Information technology, Communication, Cloud computing, Privacy, Social media, Social networking, Facebook, Facebook Messages, Strategy, Competition, Differentiation, Competitive landscape of digital communications, Unique selling proposition, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft