White bearded adult man using smartphone while wearing surgical mask on an industrial wall. Health, … [+]
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There’s a recent story about Facebook that made me laugh. The key quote:
“We’re just trying to keep the lights on over here,” said Mark Zuckerberg.
The famous social media maven was talking about how usage has gone through the roof recently and how that has stressed their operations and bandwidth. Many employees are now working from home. Messaging went up by 50 percent, claimed the article. Group calls from Italy went up 1,000-fold. Another report from the same outlet said Facebook has now become a primary source of official COVID-19 information. Like back in the old days when it was a reliable news source for trending stories about potential Presidential candidates, right?
It’s a cross to bear, Mark.
There’s a blog post that spells out all of the gory details. We’re talking about some serious suffering here, folks. The business is suffering from the weight of popularity. The messaging apps don’t pay the bills, they say, but they are popping. (After contacting a Facebook rep, the company said no further comment.)
I keep hearing a sad violin. I also keep hearing a load of something else.
You can find it on farm fields and in stables.
Facebook is complaining that the massive usage increase is straining their systems as more people are logging in to their accounts, seeing ads, and chatting on Messenger. They have a bunch of data centers that are struggling to keep up, what a terrible problem to have. I believe them when they say advertisers might be balking and I believe them when they say they don’t make a ton of money from Instagram and other messaging apps. I even believe the company when they say the infrastructure to support ad delivery might be strained or even bridled. The blog post says they do not make money “from engagement” during a crisis. Okay, sure.
I don’t think the revenue is suffering.
If anything, it is growing even more. Popularity equals revenue. It’s not rocket science. What else do millions and millions of people do while they are stuck at home?
Social media depends on information. When there are engaging topics, things to discuss, calamities to mention — this fuels the beast. Social media “suffers” when there is nothing to talk about — when there is no news. When life is normal.
Life is anything but normal.
This would be a good time for Facebook to skip the sad story about how their massively popular platform is straining to keep up with the massive number of eyeballs that are looking at ads and using their services on a massive scale.
That’s a lot of massives.
Instead, how about a blog post about how they are helping people in need more directly. What have they donated? How are they helping? The last statement on the blog is like a hidden code. It says this to me: We know we’re going to make a lot of money, here’s hoping we don’t crash. Here it is:
“As this global public health crisis advances and more people are physically separated from their communities, we expect that people will continue to rely on our services to stay connected during this time, and we hope these connections make it easier for people to stay home.”
OK, Facebook.