'Building a Business Dependent on Facebook Is Crazy.' Or Just Reality?

'No entangling alliances,' as George Washington once said.

But given the stranglehold that Google, Facebook and Amazon have in the west - and that Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com have in China - is there a realistic alternative? And if not, how can a business prosper in this environment? JL


Eric Johnson reports in Re/code:

“I don’t think many people are going to build publishing strategies and their models around Facebook anymore. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think that publishers should build their own strategies and as much as possible control what you can control. Facebook will do what’s in Facebook’s interest. The idea of being dependent on Facebook or being dependent on any other platform is crazy.”

Digiday CEO Morrissey said the digital media and marketing business is pivoting toward live events and away from Facebook growth-hacking. Morrissey says he’s happy to see the end of “flimsy, overly engineered media brands,” many of which were too dependent on other platforms to make money.

Last week, Facebook exec Campbell Brown allegedly told a group of Australian publishers that CEO Mark Zuckerberg “doesn’t care about publishers.” Asked about those quotes, Morrissey said that even though Brown denies making them — well, yeah.

“The fact is, a lot of publishers made poor strategic decisions,” he said. “You can’t rely on someone else to solve your problems. You have to solve your problems on your own.”

“I don’t think many people are going to build publishing strategies and their models around Facebook anymore,” Morrissey added. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think that publishers should build their own strategies and as much as possible control what you can control. Facebook will do what’s in Facebook’s interest. The idea of being dependent on Facebook or being dependent on any other platform is crazy.”