Facebook Ramps up Ads to Appease Investors

There’s still a lot of venture capital money being poured into the digital media and advertising sector. Here’s a fun fact: Boo.com burned through $135 million of vc money in just 18 months in the late nineties before it was placed into receivership in 2000.

Facebook’s stock price continues to tumble as Wall Street questions whether the social platform can live up to its billing. It looks like Facebook is going to up the amount of ads it shows users. (Leaders West)

Brands might want to be publishers, but in order to do so they’re going to have to get used to having a point of view. That’s easier said than done when most companies aim to avoid offending pretty much anybody. (Fast Company)

The new trend in Silicon Valley is away from platforms supported by advertising. The argument against them is these platforms are distorted by their needs to satisfy advertisers rather than users. But, say what you want about ads, a fee-based social service is no more ideologically pure than an ad-supported one. (TechDirt)

Can e-commerce marketing strategies like “content plus commerce” and “social commerce” help startups compete with the big boys? Or do established brands and existing scale make the incumbents unbeatable? (Chris Dixon)

Medium, the new product from Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone, seems remarkably similar to Pinterest. (Co.Design)

https://digiday.com/?p=19769

More in Media

Media Briefing: Reliant on search, haunted by AI: publishers at a crossroads

With AI-driven updates rolling out steadily and traffic patterns shifting, publishers are starting to plan for more zero-click searches.

Digiday+ Research: Publishers look to cash in on growing events revenue

Publishers are getting significantly more revenue from events in 2025, and they’re going to focus on growing that even further.

In Graphic Detail: How creators are using generative AI to shape video and design

80 percent of content creators are using AI in their workflow, according to a study by Wondercraft. This is a deep dive into those numbers.