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Facebook's History: From Dorm To IPO Darling

Facebook's IPO brings the world's most popular social network into Wall Street's big league. After a wild ride, Facebook's future depends on profiting from an increasingly mobile user base.
Comments | Jeff Bertolucci | May 18, 2012 11:00 AM

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With a profitable business model and oodles of cash to grow, Facebook's future looks bright. All isn't perfect, however. Perhaps the biggest risk is what some analysts see as the novelty factor: the fear that the general public will lose interest in Facebook--and perhaps in social networking is general. A new Associated Press-CNBC poll shows that half of Americans see Facebook as a passing fad.

Right before the IPO, General Motors announced it would stop advertising on Facebook, although it planned to keep its Facebook pages to market its cars and trucks. Facebook's biggest fear for the future? Turning into MySpace.

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