NEW YORK - The advertiser boycott of Facebook took a toll on the social media giant, but it may have caused more damage to the company’s reputation than to its bottom line.
Many of the companies that stayed away from Facebook said they planned to return, and many are mom-and-pop enterprises and individuals that depend on the platform for promotion. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has emphasized the importance of small business, saying during an earnings call Thursday that “some seem to wrongly assume that our business is dependent on a few large advertisers.
Of the 60% of DEG clients that joined the July boycott, 4 out of 5 are planning to return to Facebook in August, with many having “decided it’s too much for them during a difficult economic time to remain off,” Sheek said. Still, the boycott helped amplify discussion of toxic content on Facebook. The issue was raised in a congressional hearing this past week and in repeated meetings between ad industry representatives and Facebook leaders.
“You could argue that Facebook has a bloodied nose and two reputational black eyes,” Hahn-Griffiths wrote. Last month, large advertisers like Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Walmart and Geico sharply curtailed paid advertising on Facebook without joining the official boycott, according to Pathmatics. Others, like Hershey and Hulu, beefed up their spending on alternate platforms like Twitter and YouTube.