Case Study: Facebook

1) In my country of origin, Morocco, Facebook is used primarily by people from 15 to 35 years old. The social network played a big part in the outburst of social revolts referred to as “Arab Spring”, since it was one of the only mediums for the people to keep their freedom of speech in times of tyranny. But it also has a couple drawbacks, in my opinion, the major one being the lack of control of users over their own personal data. This can represent a big inconvenience in some situations such as applying for a job. Nowadays, with employers making sure to search deeper and deeper into their recruits’ past and present social networking activities, any mistake a person might have made, even a long time ago, could come back and haunt him for the rest of his life.
I think that the social network, by promoting freedom of speech and allowing people to keep in touch with their loved ones, even though in today’s globalized world it’s easier than ever to be far from them, is a great tool for the people of a developing country like Morocco. However in years to come, the emphasis should be on the challenge that is personal data encryption and protection, as well as user awareness on theses issues.

2) Faced with the need to define their approach to global expansion, Facebook chose to remain loyal to its values, in order to keep their international credibility as well as to justify their extraordinary IPO ambitions. The company is looking for market with a high growth potential, primarily developing countries, and a good level of Internet penetration in the population. The legal context of the country is also of primordial interest to the firm that needs to make sure that it’s services won’t be hindered in any way by local governments. With their domestic market saturated and showing no more opportunities for growth, Facebook has the obligation to turn to new markets if it wants to remain a profitable enterprise.

3) While China is a market showing great promise for services like Facebook, its population is still very poor for the most part and has no access to computers or smartphones, let alone the Internet. Moreover, complying with Chinese laws and restrictions would mean that the company could have no control over their customers personal data and would expose itself to government censorship. Both notions being contradictory with the goals and purposes of the social network, beginning operations under these circumstances could ruin the firm’s international image and credibility, in times where user and customer data protection is crucial and at the center of the debate since several scandals have stained some of the worlds major data collecting and operating companies (clouds).