Chris Swyer

Image via Wikipedia

The answer is the hottest online social activity site, the vanguard of Web 3.0 and the semantic web revolution, Facebook. Facebook, which is three and a half years old, has seen its popularity explode in recent months - and the business community is desperate to get a piece of it.

Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google reportedly were locked in a bitter behind-the-scenes battle over buying a prominent piece of Facebook - with Microsoft left standing victorious with a 1.6 percent stake for an astronomical price of two hundred and forty million dollars - shooting up the total Facebook value to roughly fifteen billion.

Why the big payday for Facebook? Microsoft is afraid of losing control of the next generation of computer users, who make up a big part of Facebook’s user base. With Google’s aggressive internet marketing presence becoming a fact of life, Microsoft has no choice but to throw cash at Facebook so it won’t be left behind. Kevin Johnson, president of the platforms and services division at Microsoft, called the epic deal a “major advertising syndication win for Microsoft.”

It’s also a major win for Facebook’s continuing growth. The company will be doubling its workforce in the next year and will be aggressive in its international expansion. Facebook is also expected to announce a new advertising system very shortly. “We were very fortunate to have a lot of folks interested in a partnership with us around advertising,” said Owen Van Natta, chief revenue officer of Facebook.

Why is all the massive marketing buzz suddenly swirling around Facebook? Well, when your numbers show a 50 million active member base, with a growth rate of 200,000 new users a day, that tends to get internet marketers’ attention. There’s also a prestige factor as Facebook is looked at as a poster boy for Web 3.0 technology - a standalone online operating system that has nothing to do with Windows or Apple. Beyond that, there are the five thousand plus free Facebook applications that make interacting on the site so much fun - at no cost. You can have your own car, post photos, videos and songs you love, send other Friends hugs and tons of other activities contained in all the Facebook tools at your disposal.

Of course, major players like Microsoft and Google aren’t interested in a friendly Superpoke. They’re in it for the money, so clearly they believe there is a huge amount of it to be made on Facebook. But with computer biz giants throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at Facebook, how can individuals and smaller marketing firms avoid being priced out of the market for internet marketing’s newest must-have tool?

Luckily for the little guy, there is hope. The Stealth Friend Bomber, Facebook Edition is a new, innovative and highly effective Facebook marketing tool. This simple software is totally automated, using a Facebook bot called a Facebook Friend Adder to deliver your message to the Facebook masses via Mass Facebook Friend Pokes, Messages and Requests. Suddenly, your business is part of the Facebook community, marking to an audience of millions.

Sites like YouTube and MySpace may be here to stay, but Facebook is where the internet marketing action is heading to the next level.