Facebook is becoming one of the most important social networks on the web. The company stated that it has now chosen Microsoft over Google to give a $240 million minority stake in a deal to expand advertising services on the network. This will ideally boost revenue for Facebook and increase Microsoft's online advertising position. The Facebook-Microsoft deal will even further expand the business, which will help online businesses to reach more people and promote themselves through new forms of media.

It was founded in 2004 as a college student network and has grown into an international network for all people. Although it began as a college network, Facebook's fastest growth demographic is in the 35+ age range. The network has near 49 million users 59% outside the U.S. and has 250,000 new ones registering on a daily basis, making it one of the fastest growing social networks on the web and is surpassing Myspace at lightening speed.

Facebook has proven in recent times to be a viable marketing tool, providing a free and easy way to promote products and services. Facebook users can add tools such as Stumble Upon and Digg to vote and bookmark favorite sites. Posted Items allows users to post company or client blogs and links to drive traffic to your homepage. On the Events page, businesses can promote teleseminars, webinars, workshops and a variety of other events to friends and networkers.

By joining this and other social networking websites, a business can increase their viewers and potential customers all over the world. Because Facebook is an Identity Platform and a closed network, it limits many of the search engines (Yahoo, MSN, Google). Therefore, joining this social network permits a business to access new information on potential clients. This should be used to benefit online marketing since the company has stats on what the users are doing. You can also post a poll to find more about your target demographic on the adverting page on the site. Facebook also has classified ad space on the left hand side and other areas of the site for online business to promote products and services.

In this modern age, people tend to stray away from business home pages. So businesses need to find new and innovative ways to drive traffic to their sites. Social networks are one of many direct response marketing techniques that can help your business flourish.