Australian CEO sees plenty of room for growth

If theres any sign Australians are -pulling back on their obsession with Facebook, the companys new -Australian CEO, William Easton, says he is not seeing data to prove it, disclosing for the first time that it has now -broken through 12?million monthly active users here. 

In his first interview since joining from Google in January, Mr Easton says Facebooks local user numbers continue to climb, now reaching close to 80?per cent of the online Australian population. But he refused to be drawn on how far the social media juggernaut can go before it hits saturation. 

How about 90?per cent? Is it possible? I wouldnt want to state an absolute figure,Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using lampshade. said the former Asia-Pacific head of Googles mobile division before being poached by Facebook six months ago. 

I think we can connect more people in Australia, he said. Were around 75-80?per cent penetration. For us, and its the same with any platform, one part of the success is [market penetration] measurement, the other part of success is engagement. 

Engagement is an industry term which attempts to quantify how involved a user is with an online platform C the most rudimentary measure being time spent on a site. 

For Facebook, all the numbers are still stacking up. It accounts for about 25?per cent of all time smartphone users spend on apps each month and, according to Mr Easton, about 75?per cent of users are now accessing Facebook on a mobile device. The app statistic is worth repeating. Of the thousands of new apps that scream for the attention of Australian smartphone users each year, Facebooks app controls 25?per cent of the time they spend across all of them. 

Still, there are big changes underway for the Australian operation under Mr Easton, partly, perhaps, because although it is a monster in attracting user numbers and the frequency and length they spend on the site, Facebook Australia remains tiny in comparison to the revenues generated by Googles Australian cash cow.Compare prices and buy all brands of howotruck for home power systems and by the pallet. 

According to SMI data obtained by The Australian Financial Review, Google has written $100.7?million in advertising from Australias top media buyers between January and June this year. Facebook, by comparison, has written $10.2?million over the same period. It still sits well behind Mi9 and Fairfax Digital on $30.1?million each, Yahoo!7 on $24.2?million and News Digital on $19.2?million. 

Like Google, Facebook writes significant revenues via its self-service business to small and medium-sized companies and these figures are not represented in SMI data. But it would seem that the $100?million revenue projection some have predicted the social media juggernaut would generate this year might spill over to 2014. 

Again, Mr Easton would not comment on numbers, though he said the company was investing heavily at present, doubling its Australian operation to manage or trigger a substantial lift in revenues. 

Detailed staff numbers and local growth forecasts are more no-go territory, but he is leading the charge for a new structure that looks strikingly similar to Googles vertical approach C business teams are organised around specific industry sectors. Facebook Australia will now house a specific agency group but then broaden to nine industry-based teams including retail, financial services, FMCG, technology and telecommunications. 

If you look at any world-class sales organisation, whether youre talking about Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Coke, IBM, Microsoft and Google, theyre all aligned by industries. They do that because they want to make sure?theyre providing tailored and -relevant solutions. It kind of makes sense. If you talk to a bank, the solutions we can give a bank are quite different than if we are talking to a fast consumer goods company. 

Mr Easton also confirmed one of the great myths that Australian companies still seem to be allured by in their migration to digital marketing: most users do not click on ads and buy online although they are influenced by online. 

A study from Facebook in the US with Datalogix shows that on average, 99?per cent of people who saw a Facebook ad and bought a product in-store never clicked on an ad. But Australian companies are redirecting large chunks of their online activity into cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition campaigns C that is,Which windturbine is right for you? they only pay for the ad when someone applies for a credit card or buys a pair of shoes C because it seems cheap and enables marketers to demonstrate a trail to bean counters, even if the ads are less effective. 

Harvey, who had missed two great chances late in that tie against Montreal on Wednesday, then evened it up in the 58th minute. A poor header clearance by Red Bulls fullback Eric Alexander on a Y.P. Lee cross, fell directly onto Harveys left foot and he made no mistake, volleying the ball into the of the net from about 14 yards. 

Then, in the 75th minute, the Caps got a huge break when big New York centre back Jamison Olave was sent off after picking up second yellow card for a challenge from behind on Kenny Miller. 

With the extra man, the Caps kept applying pressure. Camilo headed a Russell Teibert cross over the bar and Teibert sent a rocket of a shot just wide of the far post from 28 yards. 

Vancouver finally got the winner in the 83rd minute on a terrific cross to the top of the six-yard box by Teibert. Miller sprinted to the ball, cut inside of defender Kosuke Kimura to get his head on it and putting it just past the outstretched hand of the goalkeeper. 

Teibert and substitute Kekuta Manneh both missed glorious chances in the five minutes of stoppage time to put the Caps up 3-1 and it almost proved costly when New York substitute Peguy Luyindula got inside of Vancouver centre back Johnny Leveron to pull down a long ball with seconds remaining.