Forget the $1 billion figure thrown around earlier this year; sources close to Facebook financials say the social network is close to reporting revenues of $2 billion for 2010.
If these reports are accurate, Facebook’s annual revenue would have more than doubled since last year, when the company made around $800 million.
While astronomical compared to most startups’ revenues, these figures are hardly a surprise to anyone familiar with Facebook’s advertising and virtual currency advances in the past 12 months.
The company now competes with Google for online ad dollars from major brands as well as small businesses that need targeted marketing with high ROI. In fact, Facebook serves around 50 billion display ads per month and is on track to serve 1 trillion display ads for all of 2010.
And when it comes to revenue from virtual currency — revenue that comes, in a roundabout way, directly from Facebook users themselves — Facebook is seeing more cash all the time. The blockbuster success of casual games from studios such as Zynga add up to more coin in Facebook’s coffers when users pay with Facebook Credits; for every dollar the user spends on Facebook Credits, the social network gets 30 cents.
Virtual currencies aside, the lion’s share of Facebook’s revenue still comes from advertising and marketing — a game that Facebook is really just beginning to play well.
Right now, Google and Facebook are both ramping up for an epic battle for location-based ad dollars, especially where small and medium-sized businesses are concerned. How Facebook performs in 2011 may have a lot to do with how it competes in offering a compelling and effective location-based marketing platform for businesses of all sizes.
Reviews: Facebook, Google
More About: facebook, facebook credits, Revenue
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