It started during my pregnancy. I developed a love for cupcakes that compelled me to drive all over the northern and central regions of New Jersey in search of the perfect cupcake. And still, almost six months later, that love hasn’t waned.
But, like all new moms, I have lot less time on my hands these days, and activities like “cupcake hunting” have to take a backseat. So I’ve turned to Facebook. I selected two bakeries in nearby Red Bank, N.J., and “liked” them, which enables me to get updates of daily specials, events, and even notifications about things like early closings. Believe me, the last thing you want to do when your day is extremely packed is to waste precious minutes driving to a cupcake place that’s closed.
For small businesses like the Cupcake Magician and Sugarush (my two favorites), Facebook provides a forum to engage with current customers and attract new fans. It’s a marketing tool that can help businesses grow — or at least, it was.
Recently, Facebook made some changes that a lot of people (many of them being small business owners) do not “like”. The site began using an algorithm to filter each individual’s newsfeed so that they only receive a percentage of posts from a company or product that they like. According to the company, the goal of the news feed “is to show someone the most relevant information from the things they are connected to on Facebook… We want to show people the things that are most meaningful to them from their connections.”
In theory, it makes sense — users should only see posts that will interest them. The problem is that big companies can circumvent the policy by ponying up more cash to have all of their posts visible to fans. So if a company doesn’t put up big dollars, it must rely on an algorithm to ensure that its fans receive updates.
And there’s another issue. Does an algorithm really know what people actually like? Mark Cuban doesn’t think so. In a recent blog post, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks (and several other companies) openly criticized Facebook’s strategy, arguing that users can govern their newsfeeds much more effectively by hitting “Unlike” than relying on an algorithm to decide what he or she might like.
Never one to back down from controversy, Cuban said he believes Facebook is overcomplicating a simple issue. He also thinks the company “is making a big mistake by trying to play games with their original mission of connecting the world.”
The outspoken business magnate isn’t alone in that thinking. Facebook has taken quite a bit of criticism in recent months. Stock prices continue to plummet, and in fact, in recent weeks, a number of the company’s executives have unloaded stock.
Not exactly the way experts thought things would go for a company that once had sky-high potential. And the problem, many believe, lies with the company’s founder and CEO. Mark Zuckerberg is the brains behind the company (at least, he claims to be) and he’s the face of Facebook, but, particularly in light of the company’s recent struggles, that doesn’t necessarily mean he should be the CEO.
A number of industry experts have suggested that the company could bounce back if someone with more experience and an affinity for business took the helm. Zuckerberg, they say, is “in over his hoodie” (great line).
As David Futrelle wrote in Time, “Zuckerberg may be a visionary, but visionaries don’t always make great CEOs. And with Facebook’s stock hitting new lows on a daily basis, many Wall Street observers are suggesting that Zuckerberg needs to start acting like a real CEO, and fast — or step aside and leave the job to someone who doesn’t mind wearing (and being) a suit.”
Zuckerberg is undoubtedly a brilliant individual whose genius helped transform Facebook from a college side-project to an extremely influential company and a cultural force. But if Facebook hopes to achieve long-term success and be able to compete with Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms, maybe he should step aside.
Because sometimes, being a great leader means getting out of the way.
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