In case you haven’t heard, Facebook is on a big time-out. Yes, business owners all over the world are putting Facebook on time-out. Bad Facebook! Well, today we’re going to talk all about it. You’re going to learn what’s going on: what caused it, what started it, where it’s going, and what kind of changes it’s going to bring, for you and for the world. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and roll into it.
What’s up everybody. My name is Adrian Boysel, and welcome back to another Adrian Agency video. If you don’t know, Facebook’s in some trouble, and all kinds of businesses have put Facebook on time-out. Yes, they have hit the ‘pause’ button on all of their campaigns. And they have decided to wait and see how Facebook responds.
So, let me tell you what happened. Let me tell you a little bit of the backstory, how this all is going down. As you know, Facebook is a massive platform, with over 2 billion daily active users. Their influence and their reach to share information has been growing year after year after year. And with that reach, and that information, comes responsibility, right? They are a business. And even though free speech is very, very important, it’s important that the information on their platform is as accurate as possible. I truly believe that. Obviously, it’s time for change. So now, businesses around the world are grouping together for that change.
So what happened is that Facebook has allowed — they didn’t allow them openly, but they didn’t set anything up in place in the beginning — they have allowed white supremacy groups and hate groups to use the platform, to grow their audiences, to grow their reach and to profit from Facebook. Now, because of that, people are fed up. They’re tired. Because of the Black Lives Matter movement, and all the things that are happening, they are now cutting off these white supremacy groups. But it wasn’t until over a hundred companies banded together. I’ll just name a few of them: Unilever, Starbucks, GS&P (which is Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners, one of my favorite advertising agencies), Honda, Levi, Patagonia — tons of companies have banded together, and they have joined up with a group led by the NAACP, Colors for Change, and they’ve actually created a campaign called Stop Hate For Profit. And this Stop Hate For Profit campaign is going to allow, hopefully not just Facebook, but also Instagram and other platforms, to start to utilize and inspect the information that’s been put on the platform.
As we know, there have been a lot of scandals revolving around Facebook, and there is a lot of misinformation and “fake news.” So Facebook started implementing some of these things over the last few months, during COVID saying, “Hey, this is inaccurate, and that’s accurate,” and basically starting to ‘out’ some of the things that are inaccurate on their platform. Whether all of that’s true or not, I don’t know, but the information that they gather and the research that they do, they’re putting on there if it’s inaccurate or not. They have a responsibility, and they’re starting to step up a little bit to the plate, but now the next step along the journey is for them to take accountability, right?
It’s important that if you’re going to have that kind of exposure, that kind of reach and that kind of impression on society and culture, that you actually do right by those people. This is a platform that is very powerful. And if it’s used incorrectly, which it has been, it is very dangerous. That is why Marc Benioff, the CEO of eBay, and I believe he’s also affiliated now with Salesforce, has called Facebook “the cigarettes of social media.” So it’s time for these guys to start taking accountability. And I believe this is a great move for businesses, or for Facebook, to start making some change and start getting rid of some of the negativity and hate.
So, what they did is they actually removed 250 white supremacy groups. They banned them from the platform — no longer allowed. Big win. I want to throw confetti and stuff in the air. That’s a really, really great thing. There should be more love, less hate. I believe that as a person. As a society, we need more of that. Facebook has a responsibility, to take responsibility and to do something about it, especially since it’s their platform, and they have control.
Now, the last piece of this is the business owners, the small-to-medium sized business owners. If you don’t know, like I said, in the beginning, this cost Facebook $7 billion. If you want to impact a business like Facebook, you’ve got to hit them where it really hurts. You’ve got to hit them in the wallet. $7 billion is a lot of money, but in the grand scheme of things, $70 billion, which is what they did last year in revenue on Facebook ads, is huge, right? I think $95 million was just Starbucks alone. And there was another $24 million, which is a company called Diegeo, that’s based out of London, that also spent a significant amount of money.
But 76% of Facebook’s revenue comes from small and medium-sized businesses. That’s businesses like you and I. Are you going to stop spending money on Facebook? If you are, drop a comment, let me know. Are you going to hit ‘pause’ on your campaigns, or are you going to keep rolling? Now that these big boys have jumped out and hit ‘pause’ on their campaigns, is this an opportunity to seize? You know, when they jump out, is this a great deal?
If Facebook price is going to go down for the ads, who knows? I haven’t been able to find anything that confirms that they’re going to go up, or go down, or anything. So right now I’m just going to assume and say that they’re going to stay the same. If they go up, we’ll find out, and we will post something about it.
This is very, very important. I think you guys needed to know this information. This is a critical part of what’s happening online, on the web. A lot of people’s businesses depend on Facebook ads, and I know my business does as well — my client’s businesses, and we’re going to keep rolling. I’m glad that Facebook’s making some changes, and making some improvements. And so should you.
So that wraps up today’s video. I’m grateful for you guys that are with me. Make sure you hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, and drop a comment. Introduce yourself. If this is your first video that you’re watching, I’m excited that you’re here. I’m proud of you for doing something, because this is a channel where we make change. So thank you guys so much for watching today. God bless you. And as always, keep looking up.