The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook Inc. is getting ready to file papers for an initial public offering, as early as next Wednesday. The deal could raise $10-billion (U.S.) and value the company at as much as $100-billion.

As IPOs go, this one is a biggie: It would mark the largest technology IPO by a long shot (by comparison, Google Inc. raised just $1.9-billion in 2004). And, as the Journal puts it, it will be a “defining moment for the latest Web investing boom.”

Let’s hope that defining moment translates into steadier gains for investors, because the first batch of social media IPOs wasn’t kind to them in 2011. According to Birinyi Associates (via Mashable Business), 82.4 per cent of the 19 social media IPOs last year ended the year below their opening