"We've seen this movie before, especially in print and audio," said Laura Beaudin, a partner with consultancy Bain & Co., referring to the crises which struck the newspaper and music industries when they struggled to find ways to make people pay for online continue.

"It's been really hard for any company to survive with just an advertising model," she said.

But, so far, Facebook seems to be doing just that. Its fourth-quarter revenue from advertising was up 48% to $12.8 billion year over year, while payment and other fees accounted for only $193 million, an increase of 7%.

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