The Frenemy Report: Eating the Duopoly's Lunch

Facebook is having an endless string of worst case scenarios that continue to snowball from Silicon Valley -- where Facebook's chief security officer is out -- to across the pond, where Zuck's getting summoned by Parliment.And that's not all-- the latest eMarketer report shows that Amazon and Snap are, slowly but surely, eating away at the Duopoly's share of the ad market. After all, even with moves like Facebook's Patreon clone, media companies are shifting their attention from Facebook to YouTube and 34% of Gen Zers are leaving social media altogether.Facebook and the endless string of worst case scenarios [TechCrunch]This approach, willful or not, has led to its latest scandal, where a previously available API for app developers was harnessed by Trump and Brexit Leave campaign technology provider Cambridge Analytica  to pull not just the profile data of 270,000 app users who gave express permission, but of 50 million of those people’s unwitting friends.Google’s and Facebook’s share of the U.S. ad market could decline for the first time, thanks to Amazon and Snapchat [Recode]Google’s share is expected to decline from 38.6 percent last year to 37.2 percent in 2018, according to digital measurement firm eMarketer, while Facebook could shrink slightly from 19.9 to 19.6 percent.Facebook and Twitter Are Gearing Up for Their Next Video Push - Here's Why That's Important [Social Media Today]Watch is currently only available in the US, and the platform has seen modest success with programs like ‘Ball in the Family’ (following the exploits of LaVar Ball and his basketball playing sons) and ‘George Takei Presents’, which looks at scientific discoveries. In fact, according to data from analytics company Canvs, educational programming has thus far been the most successful on Watch, with Horror and Gaming content following behind.Facebook builds Patreon, Niche clones to lure creators with cash [TechCrunch]But most interesting are the new monetization options Facebook is trying out. It will let some users sign-up for a monthly subscription patronage payment to their favorite creators in exchange for exclusive content and a fan badge just like on Patreon . This will bring Facebook into the world of in-app purchases. Fans will be able to sign up for a $4.99 per month subscription, with Facebook forgoing a cut during the testing period, though the App Store and Google Play will get their 30 percent cut. That means creators will get $3.50 per month per subscriber.Study: 34% of Gen Zers are leaving social media [Marketing Dive]Mental health and well-being are important to Gen Zers, which is why many report taking breaks or swearing off social media altogether. Members of Gen Z also tend to be distrusting of institutions and expect a lot from brands, rewarding those with strong values and that support the causes they care about. Gen Z has a strong sense of purpose, and 69% think that brands should help them achieve their goals and 30% said they have felt excluded by brands because of their identity, per PSFK research. Brands that position their social media content as educational or collaborative and unobtrusive stand the best chance of engaging Gen Z on social media.Susan Wojcicki on YouTube's Fight Against Misinformation [Wired]Yes, so you’ve heard. And the reality is, we’re not a news organization. We’re not there to say, “Oh, let’s fact check this.” We don’t have people on staff who can say, “Is the house blue? Is the house green?” So one of the things that we want to announce today that’s new that will be coming in the next couple of weeks is that when there are videos around something that’s a conspiracy—and we’re using a list of well-known internet conspiracies from Wikipedia—that we will show as a companion unit next to the video information from Wikipedia for this event.Why media companies are shifting their attention from Facebook to YouTube [Digiday]While Facebook Watch hasn’t taken off as a revenue source for publishers and the social network has deprioritized publisher content, YouTube offers something of a safe harbor for publishers that want to get into the video business. For example, publishers can direct-sell into their video on YouTube, said Kai Hsing, svp of marketing and operations at Bustle, which recently rekindled its interest in YouTube. YouTube was the most lucrative platform for publishers after Facebook, according to a Digital Content Next report.Twitter might ban crypto ads too [Digiday]The so-called ban would block ads associated with cryptocurrency wallets, exchanges and ICOs, or initial coin offerings, “with exceptions.” A Twitter rep did not deny the report in an email exchange Monday morning but declined to comment further.Twitter needs a different approach to news if it doesn’t want to end up like Facebook [The Next Web]If Twitter is going to place more stock in news, it can benefit from keeping that news hand-selected and curated. According to Buzzfeed, Twitter will switch to algorithmic curation in the future. While that’ll no doubt save the employees some time, having human eyes oversee breaking news will help keep fake reports down.Viacom cozying up to YouTube as the TV giant plays catchup in digital [Business Insider]"He's not giving lip service to digital," Day said. "He really wants to diversify and make it clear that we are not just cable TV brands. We know that cable TV viewership is shrinking ... we have to think about the business model long term and how [new outlets] can it support these brands. So we are really focused on social and mobile."We talked to The Dodo about its upcoming TV series with Animal Planet, which shows a way digital video companies can grow beyond Facebook [Business Insider]The use of a third-party production company is an important point, and is a common arrangement for TV shows coming from digital media companies, though some have done production in-house (like Vice). Other industry insiders Business Insider spoke to also emphasized that a company like Nomadica was a known entity for Animal Planet, and while this would minimize risk, it could also limit the financial upside for The Dodo.