
How do you say “poke” in Hindi? According to several analysts, India is set to overtake the U.S. as the top Facebook market in terms of number of users by 2015.

How do you say “poke” in Hindi? According to several analysts, India is set to overtake the U.S. as the top Facebook market in terms of number of users by 2015.

The road ahead may be rough for Facebook, post-initial public offering. At least that is the speculation of Michael Mothner, founder and chief executive officer of El Segundo, Calif.-based online marketing firm Wpromote, who wrote about his predictions for Inc. magazine.

To the executive class, Facebook looks an awful lot like an old-school media company. That’s because its business model is built on earning revenue through, you guessed it, selling ads. In order for people to buy the ads, they have to prove effective and get people to buy things. But this return on investment has historically been difficult, no matter the medium.

A recent study for The Hollywood Reporter found that 88 percent of people consider Facebook to be entertainment, and a CNBC/Associated Press survey released just today confirmed this, finding that only 12 percent of users would feel confident making purchases through the site, so no one should be shocked that General Motors announced that it is yanking its advertising dollars ($10 million worth) from the social network’s platform.

Justin Kistner, social director at Facebook preferred marketing developer Webtrends, offered an interesting take on Facebook’s initial public offering and how it can eliminate its potential revenue shortfall.

Facebook analytics provider Socialbakers examined efforts by brands on the social network to target the 83 percent of its users outside of the United States.

Social enterprise software creator Buddy Media announced a host of additions to its social marketing suite this morning, including a unified social data application-programming interface, universal conversion tracking, and a new mobile content-development platform.

Business-card creator Moo.com is finally putting the business in business cards, extending an offer of free card creation to brands based on their timeline pages.

Recent research by online advertising-management platform Marin Software gave the Facebook like thumbs-up to the social network’s emphasis on social ads and sponsored stories.

The Facebook portion of a recent online ad campaign that ran in Brazil was so successful that the part of the budget initially allocated for portal banners was put exclusively into Facebook ads instead.