4 ms·

Isn't facebook already bigger than some of the firms mentioned in the articles? Or is it not counted as media?

by polskibus 9y ago

golemotron 9y ago
Media is a misnomer. Facebook and most new sources are advertising companies.
- igravious 9y ago
  I think you'd have to agree on this. A corporation's main revenue stream is their business regardless of how diversified they are. So Google is a search-driven advertising company. Facebook is a social-networking-driven advertising company. This all depends on what % of revenue is ad-based. The other tech giants, Apple and Microsoft (Oracle, Samsung, SAP, Huawei, …) actually make most of their money selling combos of hardware, software, and services. Perhaps Amazon is unusual in that it's a web-retailer? I just checked and AWS[0] only accounts for 8% of their revenue as of Feb. of this year. It looks like we won't have an end to data-slurping until we somehow invalidate the ad revenue model. [0] https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-web-services-posts-3-5b-revenue-47-last-year/ https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-web-services-posts-3-5b...
  - chibg10 9y ago
    AWS may be 8% of Amazon's revenue, but I believe I've read AWS is disproportionately profitable (compared to Amazon's retail segment). I'm not sure what the exact numbers are, but I think it you can make a reasonable argument that a company is defined by where its profits come from moreso than its revenue. I could see reasonable arguments the other way around too though. EDIT: Thanks njarboe for catching confusing typo
    - njarboe 9y ago
      s/profits/revenue
grenoire 9y ago
Facebook creates no content whatsoever on its own. Its a crowd-funded link aggregator that earns revenue by ads.
- CamelCaseName 9y ago
  Although you are correct, it is not a stretch to say that Facebook "controls" the media in deciding what to show, and how it is shown. In this way, you could say that "Facebook Controls [a significant portion] of the Media in America"
  - unclebucknasty 9y ago
    "Media Filter"?
    - alttab 9y ago
      When distribution is bottle necked to a single or few locations, the difference between content creation and content consumption blurs significantly. If its not distributed - its not seen. The same net effect as not ever being created.
      - unclebucknasty 9y ago
        Absolutely. The value of media is solely in distribution, irrespective of the original source. Distribution is kind of baked into the definition. A term like "media filter" only has value in distinguishing between "traditional" media and companies like Facebook. But, strictly speaking, Facebook is as much the media as traditional outlets and, in this context, those outlets are merely sources for Facebook.
- kattuviriyan 9y ago
  But, their algo determines what everyone sees in their timeline!
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  It is a channel. With 2 billion viewers / readers / listeners.
linkmotif 9y ago
If this infographic is to be believed: https://twitter.com/jmalvpal/status/869297376439173121 https://twitter.com/jmalvpal/status/869297376439173121, then FB ad revenue is greater than all newspaper ad revenue combined.
- adventured 9y ago
  It's very plausible. The NY Times has always been a behemoth compared to even other large papers (such as the LA Times or Boston Globe). Peak recent revenue (2006) was around $1.9 billion for the NYT. Facebook will hit near $38 billion in sales this fiscal year.
KirinDave 9y ago
Facebook is happy collecting money from those large players and small players. They aren't a content generation group in and of themselves. Their primary differentiator in the US is that, unlike TV outlets, they're not really accountable to specific law. As we've seen in the last election, it's very likely groups used targeted Facebook ad buys to violate various state laws in the types and targeting of messaging they used (and before anyone gets their hackles raised, this is a quadpartisan phenomenon). So yeah they funnel content but they have no editorial process.

Isn't facebook already bigger than some of the firms mentioned in the articles? Or is it not counted as media?

golemotron 9y ago

Media is a misnomer. Facebook and most new sources are advertising companies.

igravious 9y ago
I think you'd have to agree on this. A corporation's main revenue stream is their business regardless of how diversified they are. So Google is a search-driven advertising company. Facebook is a social-networking-driven advertising company. This all depends on what % of revenue is ad-based. The other tech giants, Apple and Microsoft (Oracle, Samsung, SAP, Huawei, …) actually make most of their money selling combos of hardware, software, and services. Perhaps Amazon is unusual in that it's a web-retailer? I just checked and AWS[0] only accounts for 8% of their revenue as of Feb. of this year. It looks like we won't have an end to data-slurping until we somehow invalidate the ad revenue model. [0] https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-web-services-posts-3-5b-revenue-47-last-year/ https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon-web-services-posts-3-5b...
- chibg10 9y ago
  AWS may be 8% of Amazon's revenue, but I believe I've read AWS is disproportionately profitable (compared to Amazon's retail segment). I'm not sure what the exact numbers are, but I think it you can make a reasonable argument that a company is defined by where its profits come from moreso than its revenue. I could see reasonable arguments the other way around too though. EDIT: Thanks njarboe for catching confusing typo
  - njarboe 9y ago
    s/profits/revenue

grenoire 9y ago

Facebook creates no content whatsoever on its own. Its a crowd-funded link aggregator that earns revenue by ads.

CamelCaseName 9y ago
Although you are correct, it is not a stretch to say that Facebook "controls" the media in deciding what to show, and how it is shown. In this way, you could say that "Facebook Controls [a significant portion] of the Media in America"
- unclebucknasty 9y ago
  "Media Filter"?
  - alttab 9y ago
    When distribution is bottle necked to a single or few locations, the difference between content creation and content consumption blurs significantly. If its not distributed - its not seen. The same net effect as not ever being created.
    - unclebucknasty 9y ago
      Absolutely. The value of media is solely in distribution, irrespective of the original source. Distribution is kind of baked into the definition. A term like "media filter" only has value in distinguishing between "traditional" media and companies like Facebook. But, strictly speaking, Facebook is as much the media as traditional outlets and, in this context, those outlets are merely sources for Facebook.
kattuviriyan 9y ago
But, their algo determines what everyone sees in their timeline!
dredmorbius 9y ago
It is a channel. With 2 billion viewers / readers / listeners.

linkmotif 9y ago

If this infographic is to be believed: https://twitter.com/jmalvpal/status/869297376439173121 https://twitter.com/jmalvpal/status/869297376439173121, then FB ad revenue is greater than all newspaper ad revenue combined.

adventured 9y ago
It's very plausible. The NY Times has always been a behemoth compared to even other large papers (such as the LA Times or Boston Globe). Peak recent revenue (2006) was around $1.9 billion for the NYT. Facebook will hit near $38 billion in sales this fiscal year.

KirinDave 9y ago

Facebook is happy collecting money from those large players and small players. They aren't a content generation group in and of themselves. Their primary differentiator in the US is that, unlike TV outlets, they're not really accountable to specific law. As we've seen in the last election, it's very likely groups used targeted Facebook ad buys to violate various state laws in the types and targeting of messaging they used (and before anyone gets their hackles raised, this is a quadpartisan phenomenon). So yeah they funnel content but they have no editorial process.