A power struggle is brewing among tech companies that show up on Facebook. Snapchat is dissing Facebook and Twitter for all the trouble it causes them. It’s natural to want to differentiate yourself and define your audience.
Snapchat is expanding with new features to differentiate its new sets of filters for user experience, specifically to get teens looking for something different from Facebook. Snapchat is trying to introduce ad targeting based on age groups, geography, or mobile.
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is downplaying privacy concerns, saying that no people are sharing their most private photos with the public. Instead, he continues, people are more likely to share photos with family, friends, or coworkers. Facebooks standalone app, Messenger, has greatly increased user engagement among teens, Zuckerberg said.
“Our goal is to show the right Stories stories at the right time for everyone, and in the most meaningful way,” he added.
Facebook told People it is paying 6 percent more than it was in 2017. Facebook also said it is opening up user data and user profiles to companies.
Snapchat takes a different approach with new features to differentiate its users from Facebook. It now includes a “Friends” area that shows Snapchat users who they might have connected with in the past on Facebook. This new area is where Snapchat places ads.
Facebook recently grew to have 1.4 billion active users monthly. Instagram said it had 800 million monthly users.
The battle between Facebook and Snapchat is taking place as Facebook grapples with slowing user growth and privacy questions. The debate also extends to how advertisers address Facebook users and how well its users know their friends on Facebook.
When Facebook is thrust into headlines due to privacy allegations, Facebook takes the high road. It states that no user’s data is shared with advertisers, and then it announces that it’s expanding its ad targeting.
It’s just not often that the company even says what it is expanding its targeting on. Facebook is expanding its ad targeting so ads can be targeted on a mobile phone, for instance.
Facebook’s CEO repeatedly said at this year’s F8 Conference that “We’re just getting started,” about its Facebook mobile advertising.
As CEO of MarQd, Daniel Barber made one thing very clear: Brands, organizations, and people look for, and thrive on, new tools. The key to success is testing, monitoring, and adapting to what is working.
The information Facebook provides to users about who is viewing their posts is best kept private and for other people. It creates a world in which innovation is possible.
For instance, groups are used by groups because they allow for multiple people to have similar interests in a single group. Finding an overlapping interest group is a great way to create new cross-over groups for a company or organization. A firm’s marketing function could even learn from outside the organization, with the best being from the outside.
Facebook is evolving as consumers and companies look for new ways to express themselves and do business.
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Margo Dorley currently serves as a business correspondent for Fox News Channel (FNC). She joined the network in 2007. Click here for more information on Margo Dorley.