Facebook was by no means the first entrant into the social media realm but the halo of their initial exclusivity was impossible to resist and as they expanded geographically outward, millions across the globe flocked to their platform and in essence gave Facebook a privileged position of ubiquity in our lives. As participants on their platform, users generously spilled their personal details and lives with an almost reckless abandon thus making their personal data Facebook’s most valuable asset. Self-declared data at scale is the dream combination of any platform looking to monetize their users via online advertising. Facebook realized this dream years ago and a significant portion of global online advertising spend now flows through them on an annual basis. This has made Facebook an incredibly valuable company and its founder Mark Zuckerberg insanely wealthy. Content creation on their website and app is easy as their content is our lives and the content we choose to share on their platform.
Given that Facebook’s primary revenue stream is online advertising, it is worth considering that a substantial slice of their competition from a business/revenue perspective is a slew of online news publishers that are held to strict editorial standards. News (that is accurate) is a key pillar of democracy. Hence, the penalties associated with misinformation can be debilitating to an online news media organization. It is safe to say that there is no comparison between cost to publish timely and accurate news versus the cost to ingest and publish what users share on Facebook. Yet, Facebook is NOT held to any editorial standards since they are considered a platform as opposed to a publisher. As Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj stated on his Netflix show Patriot Act, “Facebook gets to be a platform in the streets and a publisher in the sheets”. There is no consequence to Facebook becoming an avenue of propagation for misinformation despite just how de-stabilizing misinformation at scale is to a democratic society. Facebook’s vision was never to be the enabler of evil but their immense global scale gives them great power – and hence great responsibility (as the line from the movie Spider-man emphasizes). Their failure to take on that responsibility can have disastrous consequences.
Sadly, Facebook has become an avenue for destructive organizations such as QAnon that seek to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories in an effort to divide and hence destabilize society. So far, Facebook’s measures to counteract misinformation (that surfaces via organic posts and misleading ads) have been deemed as being woefully inadequate. The Facebook Advertiser Boycott in the summer of 2020 was ineffective in getting Facebook to change its stance on being the “arbiter of truth”. This should not be a surprise since Facebook’s primary stream of advertising revenue is from small business advertisers that do not have large enough budgets to tap into other advertising avenues. Most other advertising avenues require a high minimum spend. On Facebook, small businesses can spend as little as $10 a day for an advertising campaign. The low barrier to entry in combination with the precision of targeting that Facebook’s large troves of declared data offer to advertisers makes Facebook irresistible to small business advertisers.
We cannot help but wonder if our presence on Facebook actively enables the company’s callous abdication of responsibility as it applies to our broader society. It takes years to build a community on any platform. Transitioning a community from one online platform to another is a herculean task which more often than not leads to failure. The consequences of essentially destroying an online community can be quite crippling for an online brand looking to grow its presence. Radio Crème Brulee is not a vanity project. It is a radio station with a mission. We launched this radio station to combat American terrestrial radio’s dysfunctional music radio programming dynamic – one that is underscored by ageism, a geo-centric bias, and a long history of the illegal practice of “pay for play” (a phenomenon popularly referred to as Payola). This unfortunate dynamic dates back to the mid-90s – right after the passing of the Telecommunications Deregulation Act. It involved a few conglomerates taking over most of the station’s radio stations and removing the playlist programming functions from DJs in favor of “centralized programming” (this might explain why people hear almost the same songs for a given format on every station that shares that format). There is power in numbers and our online communities are our greatest asset. Hence, the disappearance of even one of these communities can be incredibly detrimental to our broader mission.
Simultaneously, our presence on Facebook gives the company a stamp of validation in the face of their willful negligence as it applies to dealing with misinformation on their platforms. By remaining on their platform, we continue to give them our blessing despite not endorsing their actions (or lack thereof). If we leave the platform altogether, we may never regain contact with a vast majority of the members of our Facebook page, and will undoubtedly lose the ability to amplify our mission. It is possible that our departure will be even more insignificant to Facebook than the advertiser boycott during the summer of 2020 was. At the same time, if every single person believed that his or her actions are unlikely to be a catalyst for change, and the status quo becomes the stance of choice, real and positive change becomes a distant dream. For those of you that engage with us via our Facebook page or tune in to our online radio broadcast, what would you do in our position? We have no clue how to reconcile our competing goals and values but are hoping that you will help guide our decision one way or the other. Regardless of the choice we make, we believe this is a conversation of consequence that absolutely needs to be had.
Broadcasting Worldwide
In case you did not pick up on this earlier, the blog you are reading is affiliated with Radio Creme Brulee – an online radio station that features an eclectic mix of current pop and rock music from both sides of the Atlantic alongside hits, forgotten gems, and rarities from the last three decades. Alongside newer artists, we also play plenty of newer music by bands that rose to prominence in the 80s and the 90s. Noteworthy examples include Simply Red, Wet Wet Wet, Tears For Fears, Duran Duran, Camouflage, Spandau Ballet, INXS, Depeche Mode, Suede, The Corrs, Jamiroquai,Johnny Hates Jazz, Simple Minds, and Culture Club.
Give us a spin when you get a chance.
We just might become your alternative of choice!
Oh boy, it’s so weird for me to read about Facebook in 2020. It’s been ten years since I was on it. I was a Facebook addict in the noughties but have rarely given it a thought since then. I’m not too active on Insta anymore either. But I keep going back to Twitter. Not sure why, but it’s the only social I’ve continued using (on and off) since the start. I think it’s because it’s the only one no one in my family is on!
@Cary: The dynamics on twitter seem to be far different from what they are on Facebook. For starters, Facebook’s scale is significantly higher since it is still largely about people connecting with their own individual communities. I could be wrong about this but I think a non-trivial number of users on Twitter are looking for a soapbox and that need for that is not nearly as prevalent as it is for connecting with friends/family in the way that people do on Facebook. Twitter is great if you want to be on a network your family is NOT on. As for reading about Facebook in 2020, the platform while created for good, has become an unwitting accomplice to the amplification of misinformation campaigns that destabilize communities. I think they really need to rise to the challenge of counteracting this OR rewarding users that help flag this stuff.
I wish there was one *decent* social network that everyone used. When my friends started leaving Facebook about 10 years ago, they all went to different networks. Too hard to keep up with when I was super busy in the teens. I just kept going back to Twitter, mainly to keep up with music and television; I hardly chat with real-life friends on that platform.
@Cary: I am an embarrassing month late with acknowledging your comment. My sincere apologies! Very difficult to pin down what it means to be a “decent” social network. I think it could mean one that amplifies the positive and truthful as opposed to one that incites and amplifies the message of extremists. Honestly, I think if Facebook can figure out the fact-checking thing, it could be a decent social network. Like you, I too do not connect with real-life friends on Twitter.