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Writer's Haven => Marketing Loft [Public] => Topic started by: Joseph Malik on October 18, 2018, 02:20:23 AM

Title: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: Joseph Malik on October 18, 2018, 02:20:23 AM

I often make a joke about Facebook video advertising being analogous to standing on my roof and shouting "I WROTE A BOOK!" while tearing up $5 bills.

Apparently a fraud suit has been unsealed through FOIA. The short of it is that internal memos appear to show that FB knowingly inflated their video advertising metrics, and plaintiffs claim that the inflation was possibly as much as 900%.

It's in the WSJ at https://www.wsj.com/articles/advertisers-allege-facebook-failed-to-disclose-key-metric-error-for-more-than-a-year-1539720524.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DprgbQXX4AEeI2g.jpg)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DpqQKVEXUAEWfqP.jpg)

If you do FB advertising, you might want to watch this. The whole thing is unrolled on Jason Kint's Twitter feed right now: @jason_kint

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: guest215 on October 18, 2018, 02:29:51 AM

Wow. I only wish I could say that I'm surprised.

I guess I'm surprised that they got caught at it. So there's that.

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: Post-Doctorate D on October 18, 2018, 02:53:39 AM

Facebook lied?  I'm shocked.   :eek:  </sarcasm>

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: Jeff Tanyard on October 18, 2018, 06:12:47 AM

Doesn't surprise me at all.   :Hqn66ku:

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: Ghost5 on October 18, 2018, 07:50:02 AM

 :eek:

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: guest642 on October 18, 2018, 09:30:10 AM

Man, I hope all these scandals keep making Facebook stock go down. I'd really love to add a few hundred more shares to what I already have...

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: dgcasey on October 21, 2018, 04:18:32 AM

You have to have a certain amount of trust to do what we do as self-pubs.

I sometimes wonder if that trust is misplaced. How hard would it be for Amazon to tell you you've sold 100 copies of your latest epic, but in reality you've sold 150? How would you ever know? How would you ever prove it? A lot of people (mostly on Youtube) like to scream that Amazon (and other big corps) are evil and steal from us all day long. There is always the hope that they are just screaming in the wind.

It isn't just sales either, as this thread is showing. How do I really know that my AMS ads drew 20,000 impressions yesterday? How do I  know that it was really just 2,000, but AMS inflates it so I'll keep buying ads? FB makes its money from ads, so now we know that they will inflate the numbers so we'll buy more ads, putting more money in their pockets. How do we really know that all of our advertising avenues aren't doing it?

Like I said, we have to have a certain amount of trust. I just hope we're not pissing into the wind.

Title: Re: Facebook Busted for Inflating Video Metrics
Post by: lyndabelle on October 30, 2018, 04:16:54 AM

Quote from: ALurkerLurks on October 18, 2018, 09:30:10 AM

Man, I hope all these scandals keep making Facebook stock go down. I'd really love to add a few hundred more shares to what I already have...

I'm still kicking myself for not buying Apple stock back in 2001 when it was $6 a share.