facebook不能大意

　There is something apt about a social networking website winning a popularity contest. According to industry data, Facebook overtook Google among US internet users last week, with more visits to its pages than to the search engine. It is a moment to consider the rapid growth of a site whose 400m-plus users outnumber the population of any single country except India and China.
社交网站赢得人气竞赛，倒是比较自然。根据行业数据，Facebook上周的页面访问量超过谷歌(Google)，在美国互联网用户中的人气超越了后者。对于这样一家拥有逾4亿用户（超过除印度和中国以外任何一个国家的人口总数）的网站，人们是时候仔细琢磨一下它的快速增长了。

The industry data come with a few caveats. The figures exclude visits to other Google services, such as YouTube and Google Mail. They omit searches carried out in a box on a browser toolbar. Also, the number of visits is just one measure of internet take-up: counting unique users – visitors rather than visits – gives a different profile. Still, it highlights the momentum behind Facebook as it displaces https://www.wendangku.net/doc/d95323703.html, from the weekly lead it has commanded on this measure since September 2007.
行业数据中还有几点需要注意之处。这些数据并未计入YouTube和Google Mail等谷歌其它服务的访问量，也不包括来自浏览器工具栏搜索框的搜索。此外，访问量只是衡量互联网市场份额的标准之一：如果计算独立用户（即访问者而非访问量），就会得到一个不同的结果。尽管如此，Facebook取代https://www.wendangku.net/doc/d95323703.html,、拔得周访问量头筹一事仍突显出它的发展势头——谷歌自2007年9月起就一直把持着这一位置。

Advertisers find Facebook appealing too. It enables them to reach a mass audience, as television does, but with the extra benefit of much greater targeting. Consumer brands could easily extend their presence beyond the fan pages that already exist. Moreover, a social site provides consumers who visit for much longer than they would use a search engine. So increased advertising, and perhaps ways to allow users to shop through the site, should enable Facebook to move from positive cash flow to making profits.
广告商也认为Facebook颇具吸引力。该网站能像电视那样让他们接触到大量受众，而且它还有一个好处，那就是更具针对性。各消费品牌很容易就能将它们的影响力扩展至业已存在的粉丝专页之外。此外，社交网站培养了这样一类消费者：他们花在访问页面上的时间要远长于使用搜索引擎的时间。因此，增加广告，并拓展用户通过该网站购物的途径，应该能让Facebook从正现金流发展为盈利。

It will need to tread carefully. There is a risk for advertisers – and for the site – if Facebook moves to become commercial in a way that users resent. In amongst p

ersonal information, advertisements are more likely to strike a jarring note.
若要做到这一点，就必须谨慎行事。如果Facebook向商业化转型的方式让用户感到抗拒，那么广告商和网站自身都会面临风险。在网站上的个人信息中间，广告很可能会显得比较刺眼。

The high-growth phase means that Facebook can take its time developing ways to increase revenues. The key must be to find ways that bring practical benefits to those who visit the site. There is an intrinsic stickiness about a site where users have assembled their own material, but if people stop updating their pages and social networking takes a new form, then winning users back is a hard task.
处在高增长阶段的Facebook能够从容地拓展增收途径。设法为那些访问该网站的人带来实惠，肯定是实现增收的关键。对一个用户纷纷提交个人资料的网站来说，它存在一种内在的粘性，但如果人们停止更新自己的页面，而社交网络又以一种新形式出现，那么重新赢得用户就会是一项艰难的任务。

What the data do not show is that search engines have had their day. Google's core search advertising business rebounded in the final quarter of 2009, and the group is preparing for renewed growth. Moreover, there is a straightforward reminder of how fragile the fortunes of social networking sites can be: the site that Google overtook in 2007 to become most popular in the US was MySpace – which is now seeking a new role as social users have moved elsewhere.
数据未予体现的是，搜索引擎的好日子已经到来。2009年第四季度，谷歌核心的搜索广告业务出现反弹，该集团也正准备重新恢复增长。此外，只需一件事就能让你回想起，社交网站的命运是多么脆弱：谷歌正是在2007年超越MySpace才成为美国人气最高网站的，如今，随着社交用户转向其它网站，MySpace正在探索扮演新的角色。