Facebook Goes Down to Piraeus

Written by Brook Schaaf

A recent TechCrunch article reports, “Instagram users have been vocal this week that their feeds are too saturated with irrelevant content.”

What “irrelevant content”? AI-recommended content, the kind of thing that hooked over a billion users for TikTok.

Why this change? Because the Meta-owned platform wants to compete with upstart TikTok. To do so, it must metaphorically descend from the security of inland Athens to the uncertainty of seaside Piraeus. Meta also has similar plans for Facebook.

Can Meta succeed? According to TikTok, no.

“Facebook is a social platform,” says TikTok’s president of global business solutions Blake Chandlee to CNBC. “They’ve built all their algorithms based on the social graph. That is their core competency. Ours is not.” Chandlee states that TikTok is an “entertainment platform,” which is a “massive difference” from Meta’s platform.

Productivity expert Cal Newport also proclaims that Meta will most likely not succeed. It might make room for the next generation of social-ish publishing companies. The unassailable acropolis that has been Facebook’s network effect may no longer be a popular part of the trade route.

Why should this matter to affiliate marketers? Facebook and Google make up the current duopoly of publisher sites that suck up about 50.5% of advertising dollars in the US. If new publishers break in in a significant way, it opens up the option for affiliate marketing to be a part of the mix.