4 ms·

"At Facebook, small business is at the core of our business." Has someone here worked in marketing/PR? How can people write stuff like that and not feel incred

"At Facebook, small business is at the core of our business." Has someone here worked in marketing/PR? How can people write stuff like that and not feel incredibly dirty? This is a mostly honest question. Every time some super big company starts some campaign feigning compassion or act the victim I just want to barf.

zpeti 6y ago
This isn't actually a lie. As much as you might hate FB using all your data for ads, that does actually mean that small businesses can hyper target their customers. I personally don't see any ads on FB for mass market products, like on TV (cards, detergent, back pain medicine etc). I see gadgets that are cool, clothes from small producers that are actually kind fo cool. They do actually help small businesses. As much evil as they do, you can't take this way from them.
- cwhiz 6y ago
  Prove that hyper targeting is more effective.
- pfortuny 6y ago
  “At the core” being the relevant keyword...
- oblio 6y ago
  > They do actually help small businesses. As much evil as they do, you can't take this way from them. They help small businesses that make products... by killing all the small businesses that used to help these businesses sell their products (local newspapers, local magazines, local websites, local forums, and in general local advertising companies).
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  > I personally don't see any ads on FB for mass market products, This won't affect Facebook itself much at all, it's going to hit smaller apps who use Facebook's advertising in app. Haven't used Facebook in some time personally, but I can't recall much about advertising aside from the fact that it never interested me enough to actually click on it.
jon-wood 6y ago
I've worked for an ad agency before, I ended up leaving at least partially because I couldn't support the creation of things like this without feeling incredibly dirty. At one point I was explicitly told not to include tracking on conversion rates for a campaign that I was working on because everyone involved knew they'd be abysmal.
kgin 6y ago
PR lives in a sociopathic plane floating above feelings, manipulating them from above to affect the average people / empaths living in the plane of feelings.
- drzaiusapelord 6y ago
  Love this take! Every PR person I've met comes off as low-empathy and/or bullying. There's something to be said about how they target the normal human experience (feelings, desires, wants, needs) in a crass sociopathic way in the service of capitalism.

zpeti 6y ago

This isn't actually a lie. As much as you might hate FB using all your data for ads, that does actually mean that small businesses can hyper target their customers. I personally don't see any ads on FB for mass market products, like on TV (cards, detergent, back pain medicine etc). I see gadgets that are cool, clothes from small producers that are actually kind fo cool. They do actually help small businesses. As much evil as they do, you can't take this way from them.

cwhiz 6y ago
Prove that hyper targeting is more effective.
pfortuny 6y ago
“At the core” being the relevant keyword...
oblio 6y ago
> They do actually help small businesses. As much evil as they do, you can't take this way from them. They help small businesses that make products... by killing all the small businesses that used to help these businesses sell their products (local newspapers, local magazines, local websites, local forums, and in general local advertising companies).
ogre_codes 6y ago
> I personally don't see any ads on FB for mass market products, This won't affect Facebook itself much at all, it's going to hit smaller apps who use Facebook's advertising in app. Haven't used Facebook in some time personally, but I can't recall much about advertising aside from the fact that it never interested me enough to actually click on it.

jon-wood 6y ago

I've worked for an ad agency before, I ended up leaving at least partially because I couldn't support the creation of things like this without feeling incredibly dirty. At one point I was explicitly told not to include tracking on conversion rates for a campaign that I was working on because everyone involved knew they'd be abysmal.

kgin 6y ago

PR lives in a sociopathic plane floating above feelings, manipulating them from above to affect the average people / empaths living in the plane of feelings.

drzaiusapelord 6y ago
Love this take! Every PR person I've met comes off as low-empathy and/or bullying. There's something to be said about how they target the normal human experience (feelings, desires, wants, needs) in a crass sociopathic way in the service of capitalism.