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Facebook to remain independent

Despite the $1 billion offer from Yahoo!, Facebook has declined and will walk the independent path unlike YouTube and MySpace. Bloomberg reports that Facebook director, Peter Thiel, stands on Facebook remaining an independent company and looking to expand its offerings. The director claims that Facebook's niche in the college student market makes itself worth at least $8 billion rivalling MTV.

Given the amount of marketing power that Facebook has with its mostly college-aged members, it is entirely possible that Facebook could create a revenue model not only based on advertising but also corporate partnerships, sales commissions, and merchandise. Facebook is even trying to hold onto its members by adding networks for work and location. The results of Facebook's retention attempts are yet to be seen, but Facebook is pretty serious about becoming the direct connection to today's connected generation.

Social networking was definitely the buzzword of 2006. Let's see how it develops in 2007.

posted by Koh @ 9:17 PM