Facebook is no longer a private entity, after eight years of business – they’ve gone public. The Facebook IPO was one of the largest in history, resulting in an absolute fortune for Facebook investors and early shareholders. But what does this change over mean for the public? What does the IPO mean for your business in the future?

Courtesy of telecomnews.gr

Change #1: The Gaming Sector

If your company has invested in app games, then the Facebook IPO could have long term ramifications for you. You see, the large gaming companies are dependent on Facebook, and nearly all of the company’s revenue comes from games. In English, this could mean that gaming will probably be the first thing to change, in an attempt to boost income.

Any changes in social media however, can be met with failure. And the success of Facebook as a new public company – depends on the success of these game changes. All it means for the little company right now however, is that something at some point will happen. It will happen to the small businesses, not the large ones.

The real risk here is that public pressure will absolutely crush Facebook as a social network, instead transforming it into a social gaming platform thinly disguised as a social network. At least – this is what the investors will want to do, to earn more money. Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg will have to watch out for that.

Change #2: Extending FB Advertising Reach

Another potentially large earner, will be Facebook’s advertising system. There will be a lot of pressure placed on Facebook by their new shareholders to earn as much as possible. As a result, the ad system will be extended and developed, perhaps to exist outside of Facebook as a platform.

For that average small business, this could be great – as we’ll all have more ad power with the extension of Facebook’s ad system. The danger here, is the same as the gaming development – that things may be implemented without any real innovation or testing, simply to make money. This could kill the Facebook business culture, and lead to failed product launches.

On the whole, we could end up with a Facebook – Google role reversal, where Facebook attempts to compete with Google ads and fails. As Facebook expands out into the internet in an attempt to earn more money, the company could run into a lot of problems. Essentially instead of money being spent on new innovations, money will be spent in a desperate attempt to make more money.

The End Result

While we can’t know how exactly the IPO will affect small businesses, we can safely assume that Facebook will be expanding their income-earning potential in the future. It will reach gaming, advertising, the Timelines and more. We might even see the introduction of new technologies involved with mobile, to expand Facebook’s service offering and viral potential.

How do you think that the Facebook IPO will affect small businesses in the coming days? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject!