Forever, fb has been beyond irresponsible with its massive reach and influence. It’s been a BS machine of epic proportions lied about metrics and wrote the rules as it went along. Who knows how many fake or inactive accounts there are. They’ve purchased or stomped out the competition. Then there’s fake news, propaganda, filter bubbles, social media addiction and depression, cyber bullying, showcasing new VR tech while using the destruction of a hurricane as a backdrop (whoops, bad idea). All along they’ve hidden behind the stated goal of connecting people and communities. All of this has prompted the company “to get a better handle on some of the negative things that could happen in the system.” When you partner with mental health clinicians and organizations like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – I hope you’re admitting more than just “negative” things happen in “the system”.
“For the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness”, Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. Depends on who you’re asking forgiveness from dude….. “It’s important to me that when (his kids) grow up that they feel like what their father built was good for the world”, Zuck said. It might be too late, and in a sick and strange way, I pity him. I think more than anything he’s just a kid that was handed enormous power; he got drunk on it and is just now waking up with a humongous hangover.
A recent CNN Tech headline said that “Mark Zuckerberg is fighting to save fb”, a headline that just a year ago would have seemed most improbable. But it’s just what the doctor ordered. Up until recently fb has been the darling of marketers, investors and media. They could do no wrong. Marky Mark was the man. But life has a way of smacking pompous kids back into reality. He recently participated in a rare 1 on 1 interview with CNN. He definitely danced and stuttered. He shifted blame and used plenty of subjective terminology. But I have to say, I honestly believe that there could be a worse human being that created a monster. I don’t think the guy is an evil selfish jerk. But nobody’s ever sat at the helm of a platform that personally touches 2 billion individuals. The irony is that fb users are emotionally invested in the platform and he is so devoid of any. He’s been quoted as saying “research shows that strengthening our relationships improves our well-being and happiness”. Good thing you researched that, you ice-cold android, because we had no idea!
The 1M users from US and Canada that bailed and the 5% drop in time spent (equal to 50 Million hours of consumption per day) as well as recent stock hit and lawsuit are just the good reality check fb needs. They’ll get bloodied up and bruised but will not stay down long. Protecting their community from abuse and hate and defending against interference by nation states is the least they can do. And I believe they’ll get a handle on that. But moving forward, maybe they can turn this platform into a force for good. They’ll need to do more than increase the “well-being” of its users by encouraging them to have more conversations and connections with peers. They’ll need to become a trusted source of information. They’ll need to amplify gestures of kindness and love, marginalize the banal stupidity of reality TV stars, elevate the status of teachers, law enforcement and scientists. They’ll need to support good causes and delete ignorance and hate. I have no idea what AI can accomplish this or how, but let’s hope the programmers at fb do.
In the meantime, please stop pretending that TV is not great. It kicks your butt in every meaningful measure of ad effectiveness. Don’t state for example that “on social media, you can scroll passively through posts, much like watching TV” and that your new algorithm will reduce “passive” content. Sorry, but I think they mean “passing” content. You see, the passive nature of TV is one of its many secret weapons and scrolling on fb is engaging, not passive activity as you would like to suggest. Also, please stop pretending not to want to be TV. Not only is the new algorithm designed to “spark conversations and meaningful interaction”, but lo and behold “because live videos get 6x as many interactions as regular videos, it will be among the page posts that show higher in news feeds.”
I hope I’m right and that fb can be turned around and become a purveyor of positivity. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. Maybe we need to change first. Maybe another bombshell scandal is looming. Believe me, Plucky Zuckster wakes up every night in a cold sweat from the same recurring nightmare: what if people abandoned fb with the same viral-like fervor with which they adopted it? Can a cascade of 2 billion account deactivations spread like wildfire across the globe and implode the most fantastic phenomenon other than the internet itself? Probably not. But I don’t think he’s taking any chances.
