$38, the value of a user to a social network

vallettaventures.com

25 points·steeleduncan··8 comments

Similar to any other business, part of the valuation of these companies relates to how much growth is expected. Dividing the price by the number of current members is therefore not very meaningful. The forecast of future growth is mixed in with that figure.

The Skype still doesn't make sense. You can't advertise on Skype, their only revenue stream is Skype to landline call, and here they are victims of their own success as few people make such calls.

I think the skype purchase was more about Microsoft buying themselves into to the mobile phone market.

With the most recent update from Verizon, Skype is installed on my phone as an 'Android System Application'. As a normal user, it can't be uninstalled. This sort of placement seems advantageous, and certainly provides MS with a good phone foothold on Android and iOS. On the other hand, users hate apps that can't be uninstalled, but aren't quite part of the system software either (code_duck glances at Blockbuster or VZ Navigator).

Also, to clarify their services, accepting landline to Skype requires a subscription. I wouldn't call it landline though, since it's actually a connection to the normal phone network which includes cell phones. You can also pay Skype to send SMS messages and provide voicemail.

Also, Google Hangouts ... and there will soon be viable competition from HTML5 web apps (Hangouts presently use a plugin).

http://www.slashgear.com/google-webrtc-browser-voicevideo-ch...

There can only be a fixed value per user for a social network if all companies are equally good at monetizing their networks and that can't be true

Maybe it's an average?

The article actually addresses this point quite intelligently.

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