Last week, Facebook decided to restrict access to news in Australia following the federal government’s proposed changes to media bargaining laws that would require tech giants, including Facebook, to pay Australian news outlets for their content.
The sudden nature of the Facebook ban led Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to say he wasn’t warned about the tech giant’s action, labelling them “wrong and heavy handed”.
Facebook also revealed that news only comprises of less than 4 per cent of what people see in their feeds.
But according to Localsearch director of digital and growth Adam Boote, businesses who advertise on Facebook should not be concerned with the possibility of decreased reach opportunities.
“People are using the platform to connect with friends, family and, if you’re doing it right, businesses, too, so I wouldn’t expect to see many people leave the platform because of this,” Mr Boote said.
“Ads rely on people seeing them, so if anything, all the people going to Facebook to see who has had their content banned and who hasn’t is going to be good news if you have ads right now.”
Mr Boote added that businesses also shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket and should be engaging on many different online platforms.
“Facebook, Google and other tech giants are businesses, too. They can cease to exist,” he said.
“Ensuring your business is on the platforms your audience are using isn’t just for reaching those people and growing their business, but it helps future-proof yourself for things like this, if they ever were to impact businesses.
“For example, Facebook also owns Instagram, but they haven’t expanded the ban to that platform.”
