Will Facebook live up to expectations?

I think it is probably now fairly evident that the launch of Facebook as a public limited company was vastly over-hyped, with punters mistaking 'popularity' for commercial opportunity. The public just love Facebook as a social interactive tool, of that there is no doubt - one the other side of the coin, it will be possible to make money from such a social interactive tool as long as it does not become overly commercial.

Advertising is the key here, and in the case of Facebook, 'targeted' advertising based on all sorts of variables that can be identified from a profile or activity of an individual. While this company offers a fairly unique way to target advertising, one still has to question the value of advertising to an increasingly web-savvy, skeptical public - many of whom will be difficult to reach as they will be using mobile devices which offer less opportunity for adverts.

I think in general, pricing of the company was largely driven by sentiment and excitement rather than hard-nosed commercial instinct, and I can understand that as a bit of a Facebook fan myself. In the cold hard light of day, it is clear that the company was over-priced. Whether owning a little chunk of the social phenomenon is enough of a reward for some investors is difficult to gauge, but for me FB as a social tool is great, as a commercial model, it's good, but will always have to hold back on all-out commercialism at the risk of losing it's only asset - fickle internet users.