We've been living with social media for close to 20 years now, and have willingly given the companies our data in exchange for interaction and entertainment. Generally, we accept that they profit by selling our data for targeted ads.
I used to buy dark ads though META's Ad Manager in 2019. It started out very effective, but over time I watched the (non-bot) engagement go down while the price per click continued to go up. I haven't bought ads in over a year, but a quick search says the average cost per click is now around $.50. I was paying less than $.10 for a while there. As more and more ads were sold, it made greater competition for ad space and the rate went up - Easy to see how META makes a ton of money with this model.
But doesn't it seem like FB/IG has begun to run its course as far as people wanting to use it? How and why do you see it maintaining and growing the Ad revenue in the long term? What's META platform gonna look like in 3 years? I think unless its something completely different, a lot of people will continue to check out.
Lately there's a lot of resentment/backlash/reluctance (at least by non-boomers) to reduce our exposure to social media; as we now know the companies intentionally fuel societal/political division, contribute to emotional damage in kids. It seems that less people are posting personal content on a regular basis, sharing less. This makes the 'digital creators' who think the world needs to hear from them every day a larger part of the feed alongside all the paid Ad content. FB/IG are just less engaging than they once were. Unless you're watching reels - which, like tiktok just sucks people into an addictive and mindless loop of 10 second videos leading to 'brain-rot' - People are finally recognizing the harm of social media. Have a look at Australia's new social media ban for kids - coming soon to US. What impact will this have on META ad sales? I just don't see how it continues to grow with so many forces against it.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk. TLDR \~ I don't think META will continue to increase revenue. They might even be the company that doesn't make it through the AI bubble.