How is it possible for facebook to have a value of 32 billion which is £63 per user when most spend nothing?

[Michael]

And please just dont say adverts, that does not explain value per person to that level as the majority will never even follow an external link.

[isxrc]

mainly advertiser money

[Grim]

people pay for the ads to be placed on the site, weather people go to them or not fb still gets the moeny for it....

however mostly, it is cause of the stock market... check it out!!!

[JimatRSC]

Nobody is paying to subscribe, so I'm not really sure what it could possibly be besides ads. How do you think youtube makes money? People really do click on the ads....for some reason. I certainly haven't though.

[nirvana_cali]

They make a killing on advertiser's money, and I'm sure they have some merchandise out there. They probably received some royalties from the movie The Social Network as well.

[Sa]

Amazing,if it is a fact.

[tallquilt934]

Largely advertising revenue, as has been stated. It is hard to imagine this but Facebook™ is bigger and more popular that almost any internet site that has gone before - Bono recently quadrupled an investment of £130m that has became £485m:

http://celebrity.aol.co.uk/2011/01/14/bono-facebook/

[Daniel R]

You can't say "dont say adverts", when as you know that *is* the answer.

People don't have to follow external links to make money for Facebook. Advertisers pay for impressions, not clicks, so everyone that sees an advert is income for Facebook.

Remember, if you're not paying for something, you're not the customer: you're the product. Facebook sells your eyeballs to the advertiser.

[KeyshaJ]

Don't think about what it is now. It needs cash from its IPO for investment.
It is highly subscribed. So it could be one of the primary conduits through which people and commerce communicate and do business. If it could be set up with a banking system then it could replace much of the internet with a consistent and familiar interface through which to shop, for example. (Instead of having a individual accounts with amazon, play, ebay, etc - you just have one account.) So if facebook only charge 0.1 % of every transaction they could earn the GDP of a small country every year.

[Twisted_Ace]

"And please just dont say adverts..."
Why not? That is the reason.

"...that does not explain value per person to that level..."
Yes, it does. If you understand how business revenue is generated.

"...the majority will never even follow an external link."
Yes, they will. Most Facebook users are just sheep.

Simply because you don't understand something, that doesn't mean it's wrong. You have a lot to learn.