–Facebook’s partnerships with emerging companies

The article explains a fact that Facebook is still the dominant social media service, and has been an attractive suitor for many small start-ups.  The cooperation between Facebook and start-ups bridges both sides to growth.

In terms of small start-ups, some of them really enjoy cooperating with large social platform, such as Facebook, to spread its brand. A great example might be Instagram, the photo-sharing app it bought for 1 billion. This service, which had 30 million users at the time, now has more than 150 million, and lately, the first advertisement shows up in users’ photo streams. This proves that the two companies were a good fit. However, there exists a lot of start-ups that rebuff the cooperation with Facebook, for fear that selling to Facebook would go against their original purpose. Snapchat is one of them who most likely spurned Facebook because it thought it could fetch much more than Facebook was willing to pay. Though Facebook has had a sharp eye for emerging companies, not all companies are seeking the opportunities to collaborate with Facebook. And its biggest competitor Google often snatches up start-ups that Facebook wants.

Thus, to seize the business opportunity and make effective negotiation become crucial. What is more important for both Facebook and start-ups is that the compatibility and efficacy of the cooperation. It is about brand positioning, marketing and value preposition. For instance, except Snapchat’s aspiration, the compatibility is a barrier for their cooperation.  Snapchat is centered on impermanence and offers privacy and anonymity. However, Facebook encourages users to share more and is rooted in real-world, aiming at creating a permanent.

Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/18/technology/facebook-strives-to-keep-its-cachet.html?ref=business