Facebook Inc (Nasdaq: FB) has accumulated a massive user base of customers and has grown into the gold standard of social media. Investors certainly aren’t questioning Facebook’s revenue growth or market returns, but one former Facebook executive says society is paying a steep price for Facebook’s success.
Former Facebook vice president of user growth Chamath Palihapitiya says he feels a sense of guilt about the damage social media has done to society.
“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works,” Palihapitiya said in a speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem – this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem.”
Palihapitiya says he uses Facebook as little as possible, restricts his children from using it and recommends others consider making a “hard break” from social media.
Palihapitiya isn’t the first former Facebook employee to speak out about the dangers of social media. Former Facebook president Sean Parker says he is a “conscientious objector” to social media and that the company’s success has been derived from “exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”
According to Vanity Fair, plenty of former Facebook employees share a similar sense of regret about what Facebook has become.
Advertisers that are responsible for the majority of Facebook’s revenue pay top dollar for maximum user engagement from Facebook. If Facebook users start taking the advice of Palihapitiya and others who are urging users to spend less time on social media, it could be bad news for Facebook investors.
So far, there are no signs of a meaningful movement to disconnect from social media. In the most recent quarter, Facebook reported a 47 percent increase in revenue. The company also increased its massive global user base from 2.01 billion users to 2.07 billion users.
GBH Insights head of technology research Daniel Ives says investors can expect more of the same from the company in 2018.
“While there continues to be evolution around Facebook’s ad growth model and monetization strategy, it appears…
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