Half of Americans polled see Facebook as a fad: report

15 May 2012

Nearly half of the 1,000 people surveyed in America by news agencies AP and CNBC were of the opinion that the social network Facebook was just another passing fad, even as the remaining half felt the asking price of its initial public offer was too high.

However, more than half of the people felt Facebook as a good investment option although 17 per cent had no idea of the company's working after it goes public.

The report comes after Facebook announced a hike in the price band of its IPO to $34-$38 from $28-$35, which raises the expected sale proceeds at the upper end to about $12.8 billion.

Menlo Park, California-based Facebook, which boasts of a 900 million subscriber base, raised the offer price of its IPO following a rush for it shares. But many of the investing majors, including iconic investor Warren Buffet, are keeping off the IPO.

Yet, the survey found that a majority (51 per cent) of those polled have a favorable opinion about the company, while 23 per cent felt nothing in favour of Facebook as an investment option.

Half of those polled were neutral as they had never heard of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg while over a third of those polled see him in a favorable light and 14 per cent have an unfavorable opinion about him.