Facebook Predictions 2012 - IPO Discussion

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I'd like to know more about their IPO scenario, as well as know if Facebook will be able to branch out into other markets indedendent of their social media platform. Their brand doesn't sound much like an umbrella brand covering multiple devisions. Todate we've known them as really a singular service. They also haven't been the fastest on innovation (There is still no edit button for status updates).

I wonder what their plans will become to justify their public offering (payoff stock holders). Or is it going public to spread the wealth by absorbing a private company into a public company?

By my eyes, IPOs are executed when there is need to invest in greater schemes, and people buy in hoping to be part of the great returns on investment.

What do you do after your site grows to 800 million users and expands to 1 trillion pageviews per month? Why, plan a $100 billion IPO, of course!

Going public is clearly the biggest thing on tap for Facebook in 2012, but the world's most populated social network and its users have a lot to look forward to over the coming year. From the maturation of Mark Zuckerberg as a leader to Facebook's growth as a media platform to a looming collision with the world's biggest tech companies, 2012 is poised to be one of the most important years in the company's short history.

Read on for our predictions for Facebook's upcoming year, and be sure to add your ideas in the comments.

The IPO

It's safe to say that Facebook's long-rumored IPO will be the biggest public offering of 2012. It could also potentially be the biggest of the current decade, if rumors of a reported $100 billion valuation and $10 billion raise are accurate. That would put Facebook in the top-three American IPOs for highest amounts raised.

Of course, an astronomical target does not mean a guaranteed blockbuster IPO for Facebook. Zynga's unspectacular debut on the public markets in December has some investor's worried that social media IPOs will generate less enthusiasm going forward, and that could affect Facebook in 2012. "It's a very telltale sign of how people feel about social media IPOs in general," Jeffrey Sica, owner of Sica Wealth Management in Morristown, N.J., told Mashable. "[Investors] have become very shortsighted. There's a lot of fear in the market right now."

Facebook 2012: What the Future Holds for the Social Media Powerhouse