Facebook may now be broken up from Instagram and WhatsApp by the FTC. What does it mean for brands and advertising:
(context from my blog on this: https://www.thesocialmediareport.org/p/and-so-it-begins-fts-requests-breakup) 1/6

Instagram generates $20bn a year in advertising revenue, approx one quarter of Facebook's revenue, and WhatsApp processes 65bn messages a day. That's a starter for 10 on the hole this will carve out of the middle of Facebook. 2/6

$FB's overall size will dwindle, as advertising through Instagram flows through Facebook, and WhatsApp data powers ad intelligence in Facebook's social graph. 3/6

Brands will need to not only reorganise budgets, but factor in shifting demographics. Facebook's audience could become less valuable, and Instagram more so. Volatility ahead. 4/6

The FTC has been tracking how brands have been spending their ad dollars, too. There could realistically also be a clampdown on this in addition to a break-up. 4/6 https://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-ad-scams-ftc/385221/

It should be expected that, if Facebook were to lose Instagram and WhatsApp, that the loss could be a multiple higher than the amount of revenue removed from the p&l. This isn't about taking some petrol out of the tank. It's taking the engine out of the bonnet. 5/6