Broken on Purpose? Who DOES That??

It’s no conspiracy. Facebook acknowledged it as recently as last week: messages now reach, on average, just 15 percent of an account’s fans. In a wonderful coincidence, Facebook has rolled out a solution for this problem: Pay them for better access.

As their advertising head, Gokul Rajaram, explained, if you want to speak to the other 80 to 85 percent of people who signed up to hear from you, “sponsoring posts is important.”

Above is a quote from an interesting read from the New York Observer today in which we learn some unsettling, but not at all surprising truths. Namely, that a lot of the capabilities that social platforms enabled in the beginning to lure you in and get you hooked are now systematically being yanked from your unhappy clutches: unless you’re willing to pay. Examples include Twitter automation on LinkedIn, basic messaging functionality on Facebook fan pages, Twitter account verification and validation, and so on.

This is why I am constantly advocating for not confusing strategy with tactics. This is why I worry when so-called “Facebook experts” or “social media gurus” pop up. If they are such experts, they SHOULD tell you how to maximize value from this type of reality. They’d be recommending a thorough analysis of the costs and the expected reach you might generate. They’d be questioning whether these platforms are even necessary, given this information. They’d be advising you more holistically on how to diversify your communications so  that when these greedy software companies finally reveal their true colors, you’re not left holding the bag.

Wow, I sound like a financial advisor. But I guess that’s maybe what it comes down to.

Are you diversified?