"When you look at all of the traffic and engagement data, it's already happening," says Leung of Susquehanna. In 2011, Facebook took the top spot in U.S. display ad market share from Yahoo, according to eMarketer data. The threat of Facebook's social-based platform challenges Yahoo's business model, and even that of search and display giant Google. Instead of algorithms searching for content to pass on to web viewers, Facebook is pinning its hopes on the power of networks. With networks of friends sharing their media consumption — and the ad revenue that comes with it — Facebook is betting on connecting discrete consumers with media, instead of vice versa. If the strategy were to be successful, the rewards could be immense and even potentially enough to rationalize the company's rumored $100 billion IPO valuation and the $50 billion valuation that Goldman Sachs donned the company earlier in the year.