Facebook’s ambition: to establish a new order in the mobile era and become the media industry’s ethics chief
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“Ambition” (やぼう) is a word originating from Japan, which means ambition and extravagant hope. It is quite appropriate to use the word “ambition” to describe Facebook’s current situation of being complacent and looking down on the world.
If we ignore the actual geographical territory and look at the number of members alone, Facebook has surpassed China and India to become the world’s largest country. Netizens from all over the world “live” in the country of Facebook all the time. Whether on the MRT, in the office, or before going to bed, everyone never forgets to leave a mark of their lives on Facebook, and every step of the way, they create a daily routine of using social media to check in and write diaries.
Looking back at the beginning of Facebook, it was just a social networking site used by founder Zuckerberg to “pick up girls.” However, as the market gradually expanded, the expenditures on various expenses such as bandwidth, personnel costs, and office rent were also quite staggering. Therefore, after Facebook’s stock listing, the management team had to face reality, accelerate the pace of commercialization, and find ways to obtain greater profits.
Everyone is familiar with the “hacker spirit” advocated by Facebook. We also know that this company has recruited technical elites from all walks of life, but it is obvious that Facebook has transformed from an Internet company in the past into a commercial giant. Facebook’s technical geeks are not complacent with their current achievements, and want to seek greater benefits and influence. They are not only accelerating the layout of the advertising business, but also thinking about more feasible business models, such as inserting various advertisements on graffiti walls, or opening up communities for direct shopping, etc.; in the future, payment can also be made directly through Messenger.
In addition, they are coveting the huge audio and video business opportunities. Not only are they busy competing with YouTube for the attention of the listening public, but they are also using advertising, sponsorship and other methods to gain revenue. In other words, Facebook is not content to be just a social platform. In addition to having a large number of members and traffic, Facebook is also actively trying to monetize its full traffic and influence through various methods and forms.
Actively layout audio-visual business opportunities
In late October last year, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Product Officer Chris Cox attended the WSJ D Live conference. Cox publicly announced that they are developing novel digital tools to make videos more attractive. Cox predicts that by 2021, video will account for 70% of Facebook’s mobile traffic. It can be seen from this public conversation that although Facebook still adheres to its technology standard, it inevitably invests heavily in audio and video-related content.
In addition, Facebook launched the “Instant Articles” service in May 2015, which allows media to publish news directly on the Facebook platform. It claims that it allows netizens to see news faster, provides a better user experience, and media can also have a higher reach rate. However, this series of actions also makes people wonder whether Facebook has gone too far in its attempt to become a media company that can influence social opinion.
In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it — often in the face of people who say it’s impossible or are content with the status quo.
So, how does the founder of Facebook Zuckerberg view the social giant he has created?
He made his position known to the public at a Facebook Live live event in December last year. He said: “Facebook is undoubtedly a new platform, but we are not a traditional technology company, let alone a traditional media company. Our responsibility is not limited to disseminating news, we are an important part of public information and discourse.”
Recently, foreign media have also reported that Facebook has purchased certain floors of offices in the New York Times building and intends to move the news product team responsible for the “Instant Articles” service from California to New York, a major American media city. This incident also demonstrates Zuckerberg’s ambition to a certain extent.
For nearly 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook is no longer just a dispensable social media, but an important platform for information and interpersonal communication. This reminds me of the classic line from the famous movie “Spider-Man”: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Sandberg said that Facebook currently has two goals, including becoming a platform that is inclusive of all concepts, and striving to build a safe online community for all netizens.
As we all know, Facebook’s capabilities have long surpassed that of Spider-Man, who can fly into the sky and burrow into the earth. However, because of its rapid development in recent years, the operation team has been shocked that it cannot rely on algorithms alone to control some controversial content. For example, the recent frequent spread of fake news has caused them a headache. On January 4 this year, Germany fined Facebook half a million euros for spreading and circulating fake news about Chancellor Merkel on Facebook.
Where should users go?
Faced with the endless ambitions of Facebook, what should the majority of users do? I think it’s time for everyone to think carefully about how to make good use of such social media, but not to be restrained and kidnapped by it.
★ Photo Credit: unsplash.com
★ Article source: This article was originally published in the February 2017 issue of “English Island” magazine
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