Facebook’s new ad campaign admits the social network has lost its way

[Dean213]

Facebook’s new ad campaign admits the social network has lost its way

 

Earnings have also taken a hit, but user numbers keep rising

 

Source

 

In the wake of the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal and questions around its ability to impact elections, Facebook's been trying to reassure both users and governments that it takes its responsibilities seriously. 

 

The latest remedy the company has released to try and deal with its public image problem comes in the form of a new video, which looks fondly back on what made the platform so successful in its earlier days, and self-critically examines what factors have caused its downhill slide since.

 

Aside from some rather vague ‘we need to do better’ statements from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the new advert is the closest the company’s come to admitting that it has a serious image issue and that it has substantially strayed from its initial intentions.

 

 

“We came here for the friends”, the video’s voiceover begins, before rolling through a string of examples of simpler online interactions that apparently made us feel “a little less alone”.

 

“But then something happened,” it continues, before explaining that problems started when “we had to deal with spam, clickbait, fake news, and data misuse."

However, "from now on," says the video, "Facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy.”

 

The crux of the ad is that the company will at least try to return its focus to the ‘friends and family’ aspects of the service, and in doing so, steer away from the current affairs and political news content maelstrom that it has become.

 

Network repair

The video will apparently run on TV, online and in cinemas through till July, and forms part of a massive campaign that the company is undertaking to restore its image in the wake of the recent scandals.

 

Physical adverts railing against fake news, spam and clickbait have also been seen around various major US cities over the last month and are expected to start hitting more locations as the campaign continues.

 

People and their pockets

 

Despite the ongoing crisis that the company faces, Facebook’s reported earnings for the first quarter of 2018 have beaten Wall Street’s estimates, although they are still down since the previous quarter.

 

After having consistently risen by between $1-2 billion each quarter throughout 2017, the first three months of 2018 saw earnings fall from $12.97 to $11.97 billion. The company's quarterly report reveals that 98.5 percent of that came from advertising revenue.

 

Despite the drop in earnings, the number of daily and monthly active users also continues to climb, with a jump of 50 and 70 million users respectively, quarter-on-quarter. This brings the numbers up to 1.45 billion daily and 2.2 billion monthly active users.

 

 

[straycat19]

Numbers of users is a lie as far as actually being the number of users.  I have found people with 20-30 accounts all in their real names.  Personally, back somewhere around 2006 or 2007 someone started a contest among a group of people on a website, the purpose was to be the first with 1000 facebook accounts active.  I wasn't first but came in somewhere around 900 or so on the final list of people who did it.  Some of the ones I could remember are still valid accounts even though they have never been used.  I would have thought they were deleted by now but they aren't.  So I really put no value on their reported number of users.

 

It is interesting to note, however, that a more descriptive name is being used by many, including in some mainstream press, where Facebook is being called Fecesbook.

[IronY-Man]

1 hour ago, straycat19 said:

Numbers of users is a lie as far as actually being the number of users.  I have found people with 20-30 accounts all in their real names.  Personally, back somewhere around 2006 or 2007 someone started a contest among a group of people on a website, the purpose was to be the first with 1000 facebook accounts active.  I wasn't first but came in somewhere around 900 or so on the final list of people who did it.  Some of the ones I could remember are still valid accounts even though they have never been used.  I would have thought they were deleted by now but they aren't.  So I really put no value on their reported number of users.

 

It is interesting to note, however, that a more descriptive name is being used by many, including in some mainstream press, where Facebook is being called Fecesbook.

I can relate to this  cos even I tried this and eventually got bored and left it.

 

The purpose in my case was just to screw around. 

[knowledge-Spammer]

tested messaging on Putin

[plb4333]

On 4/25/2018 at 9:10 PM, straycat19 said:

Numbers of users is a lie as far as actually being the number of users.  I have found people with 20-30 accounts all in their real names.  Personally, back somewhere around 2006 or 2007 someone started a contest among a group of people on a website, the purpose was to be the first with 1000 facebook accounts active.  I wasn't first but came in somewhere around 900 or so on the final list of people who did it.  Some of the ones I could remember are still valid accounts even though they have never been used.  I would have thought they were deleted by now but they aren't.  So I really put no value on their reported number of users.

 

It is interesting to note, however, that a more descriptive name is being used by many, including in some mainstream press, where Facebook is being called Fecesbook.

Don't know for sure, but its possible FB uses IP of user and if there's multiple users with same IP its counted as 1. But even better would be if FB uses machine ID to know if its the same user.