Something Is Wrong at Facebook

Posted July 30, 2018

External Article: The Atlantic

Ian Bogost, professor at the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote The Atlantic, July 26, article, “Something Is Wrong at Facebook.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Wehner, warned that its revenue growth would slow over the remainder of the year. Wehner also said that the company’s profitability would slow. Its operating margin has almost reached 50 percent in the past. That’s an incredible number—Google and Apple often reach only 25 to 30 percent. Wehner urged investors to expect that figure, 44 percent for the current quarter, to trend toward the mid-30s in the future. The reasons amount to investments in new products and services, and changes related to privacy and security. Facebook’s user growth also slowed, and actually dropped in Europe, thanks to the effects of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in May.

For Facebook’s critics, the crash had moral implications. At last, the company’s misdeeds might be catching up with it. But a single bad day—one that hasn’t even concluded as I write this—says very little about its performance over time. With the exception of the March calamity, driven by election scandals and the company’s questionable responses to them, many of Facebook’s stock dips tracked with fears about its ability to continue to increase profits at its prior 

For the full article, visit The Atlantic website.