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‘No Morals’: Advertisers React to Facebook Report

46 points by mindgam3 8y ago

mindgam3 8y ago
Question for mods: why is this post getting flagged?
- sctb 8y ago
  We don't know exactly why users flagged this post, but it's possible that they felt the issue was sufficiently discussed at the time (there were heaps of Facebook-related posts about the report then). We've turned off the flags now so the discussion can continue.
  - mindgam3 8y ago
    Thanks for the possible explanation. I just came across the source article in my news reader today so I assumed it was today's news. Not sure how I missed it last month. I know there were various threads on HN about the NYT report, but I don't remember any discussion of this particular topic around advertisers. Did I miss this being previously discussed in HN?
mindgam3 8y ago
[EDIT] I don't know why this post has been flagged. It was on the front page for a while, now it's gone. Are there any mods who can comment? ------- ‘The revelations may be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said Rishad Tobaccowala, chief growth officer for the Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s biggest ad companies. “Now we know Facebook will do whatever it takes to make money. They have absolutely no morals.”’ When an ad executive is calling you out for doing whatever it takes to make money... you know you’ve got problems. I remain convinced that the only thing that will turn Facebook around longterm is a new CEO. No illusions about that happening any time soon due to Zuck’s control of voting shares. The stock will have to tank for at least another 3-6 months before the prospect of a shareholder revolt will finally motivate the board of directors to put an adult in charge. I’m no fan of Uber, but I have to admit that they have made progress as a company since Kalanick was ousted and Khosrowshashahi took over. The same kind of values-based turnaround is possible at FB. But not with Zuck at the helm.
- aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
  >The stock will have to tank for at least another 3-6 months I hope so! I’m starting there next year so the less their stock is worth then the more I can profit on my RSUs assigned on joining.
  - mindgam3 8y ago
    I don’t have a crystal ball, but if I had money to play the market I would be shorting the heck out of FB right now. So I think you’re in good shape. That said, did you consider working for another company that wasn’t so ethically compromised?
    - aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
      Well, I consider this my golden ticket to raise the money needed to comfortably start a family with my partner. Call me Machiavellian, but this is the goal I’m willing to work in the sewers a few years.
      - FakeComments 8y ago
        You’re undermining the well-being of your future children by doing so: you generate the start-up costs for your family by creating a world in which a company will psychologically manipulate them from the age they’re starting to form their independent identity onwards. For that matter, it might actually even undermine your relationship with your partner — by constantly exposing them to lifestyle porn and fostering unhappiness. I hope that ends well for you. Sometimes, your means goals can undermine your top-priority goal. If you were really Machiavellian, you’d be a welder with a side project using pilfered IP — realizing that being “in the sewers” is much more productive if you’re not destabilizing the very society you’re going to later depend on.
        aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
        My dad taught me critical thinking and to think about the motives of different actors around us (people, corporations, media, politicians). I’ll try to raise my children similarly. I’ll teach them about privacy, like my dad who insisted that each family member should have their own account on the family computer, even when we were small kids with my brother. The way I see it, if it weren’t for FB, there would be others trying to manipulate them, like other tech companies, advertisers in general, or simply scammers. So the need to raise your children to be conscious about these things is not a recent development, and not strictly due to FB. I know this doesn’t make me “innocent” though.
ForHackernews 8y ago
I guess it's nice that these execs are in high dudgeon in the NYT, but nothing will change until they move their money.
- FakeComments 8y ago
  I think of it like watching something really big move: There’s a lot of whines and groans as stress builds, but inertia holds it in a roughly steady state until — snap! — it’s in motion, and the entire side of a mountain sloughs off. It’s really bad for FB if large ad agencies are talking about them as two faced, doubting their honesty and wanting to see actions, or just outright grumbling about how they want to move platforms. Those are the noises that precede a large scale break.
  - r00fus 8y ago
    Kind of like how Hemingway described going bankrupt... "Two ways - Gradually, then Suddenly"
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
fumar 8y ago
Why is this flagged? Advertisers calling out Facebook is a big shift in the industry. Two years ago, agencies talked about their love for Facebook's people-based marketing.
letorruella 8y ago
This doesn’t have anything to do with this but as a developer I cannot longer see the word “React” with its intended meaning.

46 points by mindgam3 8y ago

mindgam3 8y ago

Question for mods: why is this post getting flagged?

sctb 8y ago
We don't know exactly why users flagged this post, but it's possible that they felt the issue was sufficiently discussed at the time (there were heaps of Facebook-related posts about the report then). We've turned off the flags now so the discussion can continue.
- mindgam3 8y ago
  Thanks for the possible explanation. I just came across the source article in my news reader today so I assumed it was today's news. Not sure how I missed it last month. I know there were various threads on HN about the NYT report, but I don't remember any discussion of this particular topic around advertisers. Did I miss this being previously discussed in HN?

mindgam3 8y ago

[EDIT] I don't know why this post has been flagged. It was on the front page for a while, now it's gone. Are there any mods who can comment? ------- ‘The revelations may be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” said Rishad Tobaccowala, chief growth officer for the Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s biggest ad companies. “Now we know Facebook will do whatever it takes to make money. They have absolutely no morals.”’ When an ad executive is calling you out for doing whatever it takes to make money... you know you’ve got problems. I remain convinced that the only thing that will turn Facebook around longterm is a new CEO. No illusions about that happening any time soon due to Zuck’s control of voting shares. The stock will have to tank for at least another 3-6 months before the prospect of a shareholder revolt will finally motivate the board of directors to put an adult in charge. I’m no fan of Uber, but I have to admit that they have made progress as a company since Kalanick was ousted and Khosrowshashahi took over. The same kind of values-based turnaround is possible at FB. But not with Zuck at the helm.

aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
>The stock will have to tank for at least another 3-6 months I hope so! I’m starting there next year so the less their stock is worth then the more I can profit on my RSUs assigned on joining.
- mindgam3 8y ago
  I don’t have a crystal ball, but if I had money to play the market I would be shorting the heck out of FB right now. So I think you’re in good shape. That said, did you consider working for another company that wasn’t so ethically compromised?
  - aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
    Well, I consider this my golden ticket to raise the money needed to comfortably start a family with my partner. Call me Machiavellian, but this is the goal I’m willing to work in the sewers a few years.
    - FakeComments 8y ago
      You’re undermining the well-being of your future children by doing so: you generate the start-up costs for your family by creating a world in which a company will psychologically manipulate them from the age they’re starting to form their independent identity onwards. For that matter, it might actually even undermine your relationship with your partner — by constantly exposing them to lifestyle porn and fostering unhappiness. I hope that ends well for you. Sometimes, your means goals can undermine your top-priority goal. If you were really Machiavellian, you’d be a welder with a side project using pilfered IP — realizing that being “in the sewers” is much more productive if you’re not destabilizing the very society you’re going to later depend on.
      - aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
        My dad taught me critical thinking and to think about the motives of different actors around us (people, corporations, media, politicians). I’ll try to raise my children similarly. I’ll teach them about privacy, like my dad who insisted that each family member should have their own account on the family computer, even when we were small kids with my brother. The way I see it, if it weren’t for FB, there would be others trying to manipulate them, like other tech companies, advertisers in general, or simply scammers. So the need to raise your children to be conscious about these things is not a recent development, and not strictly due to FB. I know this doesn’t make me “innocent” though.

ForHackernews 8y ago

I guess it's nice that these execs are in high dudgeon in the NYT, but nothing will change until they move their money.

FakeComments 8y ago
I think of it like watching something really big move: There’s a lot of whines and groans as stress builds, but inertia holds it in a roughly steady state until — snap! — it’s in motion, and the entire side of a mountain sloughs off. It’s really bad for FB if large ad agencies are talking about them as two faced, doubting their honesty and wanting to see actions, or just outright grumbling about how they want to move platforms. Those are the noises that precede a large scale break.
- r00fus 8y ago
  Kind of like how Hemingway described going bankrupt... "Two ways - Gradually, then Suddenly"

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

fumar 8y ago

Why is this flagged? Advertisers calling out Facebook is a big shift in the industry. Two years ago, agencies talked about their love for Facebook's people-based marketing.

letorruella 8y ago

This doesn’t have anything to do with this but as a developer I cannot longer see the word “React” with its intended meaning.