An Open Letter To Facebook’s Public Relations Team
Dear Facebook Public Relations Team,
Last week, I was wasting my life like so many others, seeing what shenanigans my feed would serve up, when I saw this:
The screenshot with my night filter on that I’ve provided here — I promise this is not a buzz marketing campaign for f.lux — was the one I took at the moment, but the ad, sadly, was taken down by you almost immediately.
I know, because when I look in my Facebook ad history now (users can see part of their own here), I see this when I attempt to click back to the ad y’all fed me:
Whoa.
WTF, Facebook Public Relations Team?
Not cool.
You began this conversation with me. And I want to talk. This is now a dialogue, a conversation. You have stuff to say to me, and I have a lot I want to say back.
What did you want to say to me? (If only for a brief moment, before you changed your mind?)
When I attempt to look up all of Facebook’s ads for itself in the United States on March 4th, 2021, I see just under 300 results. Finetune it to limit things to the ads that are no longer active, and it doesn’t help much: I’m left with 160 results.
But I was persistent — you don’t just let true love pass you by — and I found what I was looking for.
Apparently, it was this gem:
“The last time internet regulations were passed, a hashtag was that button you never pressed on a telephone.”
(Honestly, Chris Messina deserves so much better than this.)
And here’s what I learned about this witty bon mot you sent my way:
Potential Reach? Over 1 Million people.
Amount spent? Under $100.
Facebook, you “spent” under $100 to reach over 1 Million people on your platform with an “ad”? All…
