Social media giant Facebook's leadership continues its tour this week promoting its a highly-anticipated Nasdaq exchange stock debut that could value the Internet company at US$100 billion.
That would make it worth more than renowned companies such as Ford, Kraft Foods and Disney when the bells rings at week's end.
Not a bad birthday present for its founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, who turned 28 Monday.
But the question for investors is whether or not buying stock in the company is a good long-term bet given the transient nature of the Internet and the quick pace of technological change.
After all, who really knew about Twitter four years ago?
Investors are also mulling the financial bloodbath Rupert Murdoch took when he bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, a year before Facebook launched and blew it out of the water.
"Facebook is unlike any other site on the Internet," technology analyst Elias Makos told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel Monday.
That's because people who use the social media site will stay logged on for hours and share tons of personal information, he said in an interview from Montreal.
At last count, more than 900 million people logged on to the site at least once per month.
"That is why Google and others are so afraid of Facebook," he said.
Unlike many other digital companies, Zuckerberg will own about 57 per cent of Facebook, so there won't be a revolving door of CEOs, Makos said.
In other words, if you believe in Zuckerberg's future vision of a "truly connected" Internet, then buying a piece of the company would be a good bet, he said.
Of course, there are examples out there of how the value of Internet companies can grow.
Google launched at $85 and now its stock trades at around $600.
Facebook has set its stock value at a range of $28 to $35 per share, on pace for the $100 billion valuation that would set a record for the public trading debut of an American company.
But like any investment there are risks, Makos said.
"They don't have any ads on the mobile side," he said, noting more people are accessing the site through their mobile phones and tablets, which is the biggest online growth sector right now.
There's also the risk of new technology coming along and replacing Facebook, plus the site doesn't control the platforms it runs on.
Apple, for example, could decide to get into the social media business and make it hard on Facebook by blocking the site from its platforms.
Potential concerns aside, Facebook is already making "a ton of money," Makos said.
Its revenue grew from US$777 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion last year. In the first quarter of 2012 it earnings were more than $1 billion.
"Zuckerberg and Facebook have done such an amazing job of treading the waters of social networking," he said.
He also said the company's team is solid, particularly with Sheryl Sandberg at the helm as chief operating officer, a well-respected name in the technology world.
Zuckerberg hired her away from Google in 2008.
But the future of Facebook is inextricably linked with Zuckerberg himself, who had the admiration of another once-young technology guru -- Apple's Steve Jobs.
Before he died, Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson he respected Zuckerberg "for not selling out, for wanting to make a company. I admire that a lot."
