The Facebook Massacre

Since its IPO, Facebook has been in a world of pain. The AdContrarian predicted as much on the day of the IPO and this week explained the house of cards that not only the IPO hysteria was based on, but also Facebook’s revenue model. Something else to pay attention to: the cascade effect of the dismal Facebook IPO on other social networks and tech companies, as its overvaluation could have tempered expectations from sites like Twitter or Kayak, who may think to go public. It’s quite possible that Facebook single handedly — and simultaneously — popped and prevented a bubble. Maybe.

The amazing thing about the Facebook IPO hysteria is that the whole foundation was built on — as my dear mother used to say — shit and glue. Facebook’s revenue model is dependent on selling advertising space, and there is compelling evidence that paid advertising on Facebook has thus far been uniquely ineffective. But we live in an age in which the marketing and advertising industries trust unreliable and foolhardy pundits and experts more than we trust facts or the evidence of our own eyes… Could it be that the Facebook face plant will serve the purpose of injecting some reality into the fantasy world of advertising and marketing? Not a freakin’ chance.

Click to read the article at the AdContrarian and follow him on Twitter @adcontrarian.

https://digiday.com/?p=14350

More in Media

Media Briefing: Publishers who bet on events and franchises this year are reaping the rewards

Tentpole events and franchises are helping publishers lock in advertising revenue.

With Firefly Image 3, Adobe aims to integrate more AI tools for various apps

New tools let people make images in seconds, create image backgrounds, replacing parts of an image and use reference images to create with AI.

Publishers revamp their newsletter offerings to engage audiences amid threat of AI and declining referral traffic

Publishers like Axios, Eater, the Guardian, theSkimm and Snopes are either growing or revamping their newsletter offerings to engage audiences as a wave of generative AI advancements increases the need for original content and referral traffic declines push publishers to find alternative ways to reach readers.