Buying FaceBook Stocks is Still a Risky Business

I finally had a chance in reading FaceBook IPO offerring prospectus. The following is a warning and the risks a consumer had to gamble in purchasing FB stocks. I still believe FB stocks are not good for long term investments ( see my previous postings on this subject) Risks Related to Our Business and Industry (FaceBook) "If we fail to retain existing users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of engagement with Facebook, our revenue, financial results, and business may be significantly harmed. The size of our user base and our users’ level of engagement are critical to our success. We had 901 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of March 31, 2012. Our financial performance has been and will continue to be significantly determined by our success in adding, retaining, and engaging active users. We anticipate that our active user growth rate will decline over time as the size of our active user base increases, and as we achieve higher market penetration rates. To the extent our active user growth rate slows, our business performance will become increasingly dependent on our ability to increase levels of user engagement in current and new markets. If people do not perceive our products to be useful, reliable, and trustworthy, we may not be able to attract or retain users or otherwise maintain or increase the frequency and duration of their engagement. A number of other social networking companies that achieved early popularity have since seen their active user bases or levels of engagement decline, in some cases precipitously. There is no guarantee that we will not experience a similar erosion of our active user base or engagement levels. A decrease in user retention, growth, or engagement could render Facebook less attractive to developers and advertisers, which may have a material and adverse impact on our revenue, business, financial condition, and results of operations. Any number of factors could potentially negatively affect user retention, growth, and engagement, including if: • users increasingly engage with competing products; • we fail to introduce new and improved products or if we introduce new products or services that are not favorably received; • we are unable to successfully balance our efforts to provide a compelling user experience with the decisions we make with respect to the frequency, prominence, and size of ads and other commercial content that we display; • we are unable to continue to develop products for mobile devices that users find engaging, that work with a variety of mobile operating systems and networks, and that achieve a high level of market acceptance; • there are changes in user sentiment about the quality or usefulness of our products or concerns related to privacy and sharing, safety, security, or other factors; • we are unable to manage and prioritize information to ensure users are presented with content that is interesting, useful, and relevant to them; • there are adverse changes in our products that are mandated by legislation, regulatory authorities, or litigation, including settlements or consent decrees; • technical or other problems prevent us from delivering our products in a rapid and reliable manner or otherwise affect the user experience;" Buying FB stocks is indeed very risky. But if you want to gamble, that is up to you. Do not tell me, I told you so!