NEWSLETTER #148/ Feb. 3, 2019
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IS FACEBOOK CRAZY?
You really have to wonder.
We know they're arrogant, untruthful, and dangerous. But this week we have to ask ourselves another question -- is it possible that they're crazy?
After all the headlines and vituperation about their gross abuse of privacy; after their constant empty promises to change their ways; after congressional hearings and worldwide disgust, it was reported this week that they have been secretly paying kids as young as 13 to allow them to spy on all their web and phone activity.
TechCrunch ran the following story this week: "Facebook Pays Teens To Install VPN That Spies On Them." The story says "Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a 'Facebook Research' VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity." The Guardian says, "an app the company paid users as young as 13 to install...routed their iPhone traffic through the company’s own servers"
The New York Times, in an editorial on Sunday said, "The legal fiction of consent is blatant in the privacy scandal du jour. Both Google and Facebook have been paying people — including minors as young as 13 — to download an app that tracks nearly all their phone activity and usage habits.
Facebook advertised their app on services beloved by teens, like Snapchat and Instagram, seeking participants between the ages of 13 and
35. The sign-up process required minors to get parental consent. (How rigorous? Users simply had to scroll down and click on a check box.)"
The story gets juicier as Apple, pissed off about Facebook's abuse of one of its product to conduct this espionage, entered the fray and crippled Facebook's internal communication and information networks. "This is because the same (Apple) certificate that authenticated the research apps was also used in the key internal Facebook apps its tens of thousands of employees use every day," says Business Insider.
If that wasn't enough to grind your gears, there's this. This week it was reported that Facebook had crippled transparency tools by ProPublica and other user-friendly organizations that allow consumers to see how Facebook's advertisers are targeting them.
Senator Mark Warner said, “This is very concerning...Investigative groups like ProPublica need access to this information in order to track and report on the opaque and frequently deceptive world of online advertising.”
One would think that the last thing Facebook needs at this point is headlines about new secret spying schemes and efforts to thwart transparency. But, one would be wrong. Here's why Facebook and the rest of the online ad industry continue to go all-in on surveillance and don't give a flying shit about privacy ...
...this week, Facebook reported record profits of almost 7 billion dollars as revenue grew 30% this quarter.
Are they crazy, or are we?
Super Bowl Preview
Stephen Colbert nails the cliché "emotionalism" and tenuous relationship between brand and message that we're likely to encounter this evening in this excellent spoof Super Bowl spot.
And the great George Tannenbaum gives us "Ten Things I Don't Want To See During The Super Bowl."
According to MediaPost, the public ain't all that excited about Super Bowl advertising this year. They report that a social media tracking firm says there isn't a whole lot of talk on SM about the ads. On the other hand, if you believe that the chatter of social media maniacs is indicative of anything useful or meaningful, good luck.
As is my annual practice, I have not looked at any of the Super Bowl spots that have been posted online for the past few weeks. I want to be the only living person who sees them for the first time in the game. I hate to be optimistic, but I've seen some pretty good spots on TV recently and I'm hopeful that this year's crop of Super Bowl spots may be better than usual.
Richer Get Richerer
It's hard to imagine the online advertising market getting more consolidated than it already is, with Google and Facebook eating about 60% of all digital ad dollars and 90% of all dollar growth. But consolidation may be just beginning.
Amazon reported this week that its advertising growth in 2018 was triple what estimates had predicted. Amazon passed the $10 billion mark in ad revenue this year. eMarketer had predicted ad revenue for Amazon of $2.8 billion.
I expect Amazon's ad offering to take significant business from Google and Facebook as Amazon's retail connection should allow them to create a powerful attribution model that blows away both Google and Facebook. What will keep Google on top is that their search engine is the default in leading browsers.
Big picture, it's hard to imagine that the relative safety of Google, Facebook, and Amazon won't continue to eat away at the garden of trash that is the open ad exchange ecosystem.
Whatever Happened To "Do Not Call?"
According to The Washington Post, Americans received 26.3 billion robocalls in 2018. This is an increase of over 40% from 2017.
Blogger math (always a shaky proposition) came up with the following result. On average, every adult in the US received about 100 robocalls last year. There must be a lot of people getting none because I get about a hundred a day.
Short Subjects
- LAST week I wrote about Zuckerberg's pathetic defense of Facebook in a Wall Street Journal op ed. This week an op ed in the NYTimes took it apart bit by bit.
- THE ANA (Association of National Advertisers) -- big supporters of tracking and online surveillance -- reported this week that their system had been hacked.
- IF YOU want to see the Super Bowl ads before the game, go here.
- CAN'T say I have much enthusiasm for either the Rams or the Pats. I'm rooting for the Spots.
