Half of all Americans think Facebook is a passing fad and the social networking site’s expected asking price of $34 to $38 is too high, according to a joint poll conducted by The Associated Press and CNBC. A third of those surveyed think the company’s expected value is appropriate, while 50% believe it is too high. Of those who invest in the stock market, 58% claimed Facebook was overvalued while nearly 3 out of 10 investors claim the expected share pricing is fair. Despite these claims, half of all the people surveyed believe Facebook is a good investment, compared to 31% who disagree and roughly 19% aren’t sure.
Not surprisingly, those under 35 are the demographic most interested in the company’s IPO because of the great exposure they have had to social networking.
Once Facebook is a publicly traded company, it will have to carefully examine the growing privacy concerns its users have. The survey found that three out of every five Facebook users have little or no faith that the company will protect their personal information, and only 13% trust Mark Zuckerberg and company, while only 12% would feel safe making purchases through the site.
The poll was conducted from May 3rd to May 7th and 1,004 adults were surveyed nationwide.
