After a year of brand safety and fake news scandals, increased scrutiny is being paid to Facebook’s overall user experience and integrity as a publishing platform.
To counter this, Mark Zuckerberg this week decided to go back to basics by making radical changes to Facebook’s News Feed.
As Zuckerberg stated: “You'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard - it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”
From Zuckerberg’s point-of-view, he fundamentally wants Facebook to deliver on its core values as a platform for connecting different people rather a platform connecting people with different brands.
Despite the major decision resulting in Facebook stocks losing over 4.47% value of its share price ($23bn), it seems to be a part of a much bigger strategic move by the social media platform - a short-term pain for some long-term gains.
We all know Facebook is not a content-generating platform - it’s a content distribution platform. And for that reason, it needs publishers.
Read more: Australian publishers remain calm after Facebook’s News Feed changes
Facebook has already been running a number of tests on its News Feed, dividing it into two separate feeds - one containing posts from friends and family, the other comprised of posts from pages. This test has so far been restricted to Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala and Cambodia, with Facebook saying there are no currently plans to launch the change globally.
However, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this model rolled out around the world very soon, giving its users the choice of which content to consume and when they want to consume it.
So where does this leave publishers and advertisers?
The decision to change the News Feed could well result in significant declines in reach, engagement and other social interactions for Facebook. As a result, this will put a strain on the overall inventory available on the platform and perhaps publishers will have to consider new ways to maintain and grow audiences.
However, in return, the content viewed by users on this separate publisher-generated content section could well attract far more engagement than the passive viewing you currently get in one News Feed.
This might end up being a welcome change for publishers, who have struggled to generate real revenue on the platform in recent years - thanks in no small part to the opaque way Facebook makes changes to its algorithm, making it increasingly difficult to get content in front of users.
In fact, Facebook might end up charging a higher revenue share with publishers involved for these engaged eyeballs. Advertisers could also find themselves being charged higher CPC and CPM rates.
So, although it may not look it now, this controversial move could well be a calculated decision by Facebook which could well result in a win for all parties in the long term.
By Unruly AUNZ MD Ricky Chanana