FREE OPTIONS

Session About - Opportunistic Ads on Facebook and their Future on Social Media Platforms

Wed Mar 11, 00:00 - Mon Apr 1, 15:00

Branex Dubai

ABOUT

Ads on Facebook and other social media platforms are the norm. Because most of the features on these platforms are free, they earn revenue by using the ads. But off late, these ads are a matter of great concern to the general public as some of them try to deceive the users in thinking something that is not true or manipulate a situation. Something similar is happening nowadays. 


The outbreak of Coronavirus in China, and since has spread in over 50 countries now, is a serious issue. The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring the situation regularly and according to the latest developments, the situation can turn into a severe worldwide epidemic. And that’s where opportunistic companies and individuals have started to take advantage of this situation.


What’s Going on and on What Scale?


People in many regions of the world are seeing ads that try to cash-in on the situation related to Coronavirus. Companies are advertising masks and other products depicting them as the ultimate cure to this disease and creating a sense of urgency in this. From the ads, an impression is created that the featured products are the best cure to the deadly disease. And serious consequences or health hazard will happen to the person who will delay the buying decision. 


The deaths in China are on a rise and more than 2700 people have died so far from the epidemic in the country. And that’s the figure these companies are cashing in to sell their products to anyone who doesn’t know much about this disease or can be easily panicked through deceiving ads. 


The situation in the Middle East and UAE


The situation in the Middle East and particularly in UAE is not alarming at all but can escalate at any time. So far, there are a total of 13 cases reported in the UAE as of 27th February 2020. If we consider cases in countries like Iran and Italy where a combined 34 deaths have occurred and over 600 confirmed cases, it looks like UAE has everything sorted out this time. 


What is Facebook Doing in this Concern? 


Facebook has started to ban these ads as they deem it unsuitable and seek to capitalize on concerns related to Coronavirus. A report published in Business Insider has described that Facebook has started to take the ads down. And in the future too, the management has decided to take ads like this seriously. 


These ads are a classic case of showing the power of social media and how companies try everything in their power to sell a product, ethics and humanity be damned. These are desperate times for people across the globe so that there is a need to be united at this difficult hour. You can call them manipulative, but that’s many businesses think that they can get the lion’s share of the market through such measures. 


What Needs to be Done in the Future?  


To curb down such ads in the future and to eliminate them, something drastic is needed to be done by the social media giant and other companies. While Facebook has started to do its part, it is all down to other big players in the market too, namely Twitter and YouTube. For Instagram and WhatsApp, we can understand that their parent company Facebook will follow suit, just like in the scenario mentioned above. 


Can Social Media Thrive without Such Ads? 


Questions like these are tough to answer. Virtually every social media platform looks to offer its advertisers a chance to pounce on every opportunity that can get them good revenue. Think of a situation as a company looking to launch a new product and then they get this chance; a deadly virus that is spreading panic the world over and they hit the jackpot in terms of sales. 


If you are based in Dubai or any other city in the region, not much is different when it comes to using social media as a business owner. Companies look for a social media agency Dubai that can help them in devising a smart strategy so that they can have a real crack at the market. That’s where social media platforms earn as companies pay these platforms so that their potential customers would watch the ads of their product or service. 


The use of ads on Facebook to manipulate the minds of users has long been an issue. The issue probably first came into prominence after the US presidential elections in 2016. Russian interference in the elections and rigging in favor of Donald Trump were one of the many allegations, and the use of ads to manipulate the minds of the voters was widely alleged by not only politicians but several non-governmental organizations too. 

Ads that Work, Not Manipulate


No one can deny the fact that ads are an integral part of the digital marketing domain. We all see hundreds of ads daily and also click on some of them which we like or for products that we want to buy in the near future. There are some clickbait ads too among many others, but here we are talking about how to make things work for businesses so that I will focus on this aspect. 


We will continue to see the ads on Facebook as these platforms earning model is largely based on revenue from ads. So, there is no way that Facebook or platforms will stop the ads. Only proper regulation of the ads is needed so that ads that try to manipulate, change the decision of people, or deceive them must be banned and not allowed in any condition.


Final Word


You need to contact a Dubai SEO Company which can devise a great marketing campaign for you. In this way, you will have the best chance of getting to your target audience and without getting into trouble. If you think that you can add something valuable for this blog that is interesting and offer something exciting to the readers, you are more than welcome. 


Please use the comments section below in this concern and you can also ask a question concerning any aspect mentioned in this blog.


About Author:


Muneeb Qadar Siddiqui is a seasoned web designer having vast experience of working as a manager with Branex - Web Design Dubai Company. Designing for the web is his passion rather than a profession. He likes to experiment a lot in creating designs which are unique and takes inspiration from everything around him. That’s why you will find websites designed by him very intriguing. He loves to read books on web and graphics design.