7 ms·
>That is, that they've become a monopoly. Facebook has no monopoly on internet advertisement. I'm not a big fan of Facebook but I don't see where it would be a
by dgudkov 8y ago
>That is, that they've become a monopoly.
Facebook has no monopoly on internet advertisement. I'm not a big fan of Facebook but I don't see where it would be a monopolist.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> Facebook has no monopoly on internet advertisement They do on local political ads. Google searches are no longer effective for targeting those not already political involved. The local papers have been run out of business. Direct mail is expensive and unreliable. Pretty much all roads in this arena lead to Facebook, which makes its willingness to censor opinions unfavourable to it disturbing. There are strong reasons to break up Facebook into, at the very least, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
- dymk 8y agoDissecting the company along those lines does nothing to curb their cumulative potential effect on controlling what ads a user sees. They all hook into the same ad backend anyways.
- saghm 8y agoWouldn't the point of breaking those into separate companies be to _prevent_ them from hooking into the same backend?
- jdavis703 8y agoWhat if they break FB, IG, Messenger and WhatsApp in to separate companies. They also spin out Facebook Ad Solutions Inc. or whatever it’s called to sell ads to all those separate companies along with anyone else who wants to display FB ads. This isn’t to say that this is what will happen, but it’s one potential.
- Dahoon 8y agoIf they are broken up like this Google could sell ads to be shown on those platforms too.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> Dissecting the company along those lines does nothing to curb their cumulative potential effect on controlling what ads a user sees If I can reach my audience through Facebook or Instagram, that’s more competition than Facebook properties alone. > They all hook into the same ad backend anyways Hence the call to break them up.
- nopriorarrests 8y ago>If I can reach my audience through Facebook or Instagram, that’s more competition than Facebook properties alone. I mean, if anything, competition will lower the price per contact with potential voter? What problem it will solve?
- dymk 8y agoHow in the world is that enforceable, or legal?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mirimir 8y agoWell, there was the Bell System. But arguably that didn't work as planned. And it probably couldn't happen today. But regulation as a public utility might work.
- dgudkov 8y agoI strongly disagree. Political advertisement successfully worked long before internet existed yet alone Facebook. Voters still live in houses, walk on streets, drive cars on roads, use public transit, watch TV/Netflix/YT/whatever. There are still many ways to reach them. Even if other channels are more expensive it doesn't make Facebook a monopolist.
- liability 8y agoPeople no longer receive daily, or even weekly, deliveries of newspapers. They no longer crowd around the living room radio, and increasingly avoid the television, which increasingly has neither a cable connection nor rabbit ears. Like it or not, the world has changed.
- dgudkov 8y agoThe world has changed, but not that much. People do have mailboxes, mailing addresses and receive letters at least once in a while. Again, they drive cars, use public transit, walk on streets, etc. The real life still here, far not everything has moved online. And even for that online part Facebook is not a monopoly. Influential online company? Absolutely. Monopoly? No.
- liability 8y ago>People do have mailboxes, mailing addresses and receive letters at least once in a while. Nothing they receive in their mailbox holds their attention long, the attention market is dominated by digital media. >Again, they drive cars, use public transit, walk on streets, etc With headphones in or bluetooth paired. Who the hell reads a billboard? Who pairs their cellphone with their car, or owns headphones? Damn near everybody. Just try to buy a new car without Bluetooth. Old propaganda distribution channels are dead men walking, and everybody knows it. Unless you're advertising a chicken wings and cleavage bar at the next exit, you're a damn fool for paying for a billboard.
- p1necone 8y ago
- liability 8y agoThe network effect is unaccounted for by current antitrust legislation, which is pathetically outdated.
- rorykoehler 8y agoI just read the App Annie 2019 app report this morning, and the 3 most used apps in Singapore in 2018 were Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook. Though I didn't check for US stats I'm sure they are similar. That is effectively a monopoly.