Why the Elon vs Zuck Fight Actually Matters

IS ZUCKERBERG THE GOOD GUY?

For the past decade or so there has been one thing we could all count on in this ever-changing world of digital and social media; One universal truth that we could all rally around and agree on because it was just so incontrovertibly true: That Mark Zuckerberg is the villain of the Internet. And somehow, Elon is finding a way to ruin that for us all.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the absurd Elon vs Zuck cage match that might actually happen at some point, so let’s just address that circus first.

How Did We Get Here?

Musk, the world’s richest man, recently tweeted that he’d be “up for a cage fight” with his rival CEO, to which Zuckerberg replied “send me location,” sending the Internet into a frenzy. There have since been a series of follow-on Stories and tweets sent back and forth, as well as a statement from UFC President, Dana White, saying that the two are “absolutely dead serious.”

Are They Actually Going to Fight?

Now, Elon has a history of throwing out ridiculous statements like this before finding ways to back out of them, while Zuckerberg operates more like RoboCop, setting his sights on a target and relentlessly pursuing it before moving on the the next (see: Surfing, Running, and Fencing). And it just so happens that combat sports have been that target for the past several years. Zuck is a legitimate Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter, whereas, in the words of tech journalist Kara Swisher: “In all my years of knowing Elon I have never heard him so much as say the word exercise.”

The Real Battle

All of that ridiculousness is just a setup for the real battle of Musk vs Zuck, which could not have come at a better time for the founder of Facebook. Meta is thriving right now – its stock has more than doubled and Reels continue to grow in popularity, but Zuckerberg’s public perception is still about as bad as it can get for someone who continues to deliver products that we all use everyday.

But then along came Elon. Perhaps the only person in the world better suited to play the role of Billionare Super Villain, Musk is the anti-Zuckerberg in so many ways. His racist, homophobic, and immature tweets, as well as his illegal treatment of employees and vendors, makes his opponent’s track record appear mature and responsible in comparison.

Elon is one of the only people in the world who is richer, more famous, and has more power than Zuckerberg, and is therefore perhaps the only person alive who could make Mark look like a relative David vs his Goliath.

Good News for Meta

That perception may prove to be invaluable for Meta as it positions itself as the safe alternative to the invasion of TikTok, attempts to lure us all into its metaverse with the Quest 2, and takes on Twitter with the upcoming launch of Threads, which is set to release on Thursday, July 6th.

Whether the actual cage fight ever happens or not, Zuckerberg and Meta have already won. If they do somehow find their way into the ring, the physical metaphor of Elon at 6’1” and 200lbs vs Mark at 5’7” and 155lbs will be enough to drive home the underdog narrative that will get the public doing what we all thought that we’d never do, which is cheer for Mark Zuckerberg.

Want to know more? Casey Newton and Kevin Roose gave a fantastic breakdown in this week’s episode of their podcast, Hard Fork.

CHAOS IN SEO-LAND

MAYBE THE GREATEST UNANNOUNCED VOLATILITY EVER

The SEO forums, which are weird places at the best of times, are on fire right now.

Over the past month, people who make their living off of search engine traffic have been reporting massive fluctuations in rankings, traffic, and the elements that are appearing on Google results pages.

Here’s just a small sample of the message board posts that are coming in:

• “June is truly an awful month. It's like the reminisce of May 2022 core update. Now nearly all buyer intent keywords for products are filled with sponsored content... no more small publisher's sites anymore…”
• “Terrible traffic today. I am pretty sure it is due to Google pushing two or three featured snippets at the top, resulting in lower CTR.”
• “once again a big drop After 3 good days. It seems about 70%. Oh Boy, Google will have a great quarter.”

The toughest part is that, because there has been no official announcement, it’s impossible to tell what, if anything, we can do to proactively defend our websites’ search rankings. For now, if you are seeing a dip in your organic traffic, just know that you’re not alone, and we’ve been through periods like this before.

Want to dig deeper? Here’s a recap of the past month by SEO Roundtable

META’S ALGORITHM IS NO BETTER

A SIMILAR STORY FROM WEBSITES THAT RELY ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

More bad news from the world of impossible-to-understand algorithms: Facebook appears to be throttling back as well.

Robert Chappell, Executive Editor at Madison 365 told Gizmodo:

“There’s been a significant downward trend, and it’s an important platform for us because our audience is disproportionately on Facebook. It makes up about 25% of our traffic… You never know what’s going to change. It makes it hard to plan for the future.”

An anonymous source from the same piece, who runs a sports and culture website with millions of visitors, had a similar story:

“We noticed a sustained pullback in mid to late February. At first we assumed it was our fault and we’d made some kind of mistake, but as time went on, other publishers in our space reported the same thing.”

Our take: The financial markets are tight out there for Big Tech, and TikTok is taking bites out of the ad market, so Google and Facebook are trying to squeeze every dollar from their traffic that they can.

These are the times when owned media, like email subscriber lists and podcast listeners, become even more valuable. It’s also a time when the best brands work to pivot, shift, and adapt to the ever-changing media landscape.

Read the full Gizmodo piece here

REELS ARE ABOUT TO GET MORE CLUTTERED

MORE WAYS TO JAM ADS INTO META’S MOST POPULAR CONTENT FORMAT

Let’s say you are able to break through the algorithm and get people to view your content. Well, Meta is going to find more ways to monetize that, too.

As if to drive home the point that Big Tech is out to squeeze every dollar out of every piece of content, this week Meta announced that they will be inserting ads into Reels in new ways.

Similar to the messages that appear overtop of YouTube videos, these new ads will give viewers links to click away from your content, thereby further monetizing your followers, and competing against you for their attention.

Here are the two biggest updates, straight from Meta’s own announcement:

“To help businesses reach new customers and drive performance that matters we are:

• Expanding ads on Reels to advertisers on Instagram looking to reach customers through the creator content they love. Ads on Instagram Reels provide an opportunity to expand your reach to new audiences via image ads directly on Reels content, without interrupting the person watching the Reel.
• Bringing app promotion ads (formerly known as app install ads) to Facebook and Instagram Reels to help businesses reach more people and grow their user base. With the increase in time spent on mobile devices and a highly saturated app marketplace, it can be challenging for many businesses to get their mobile app discovered. With so many people using Reels everyday to discover new creators, products, and businesses, introducing app promotion to Reels can help advertisers break through a noisy marketplace and reach people open to discovering new interests.”

Maybe we need to rethink the whole “Zuckerberg is the good guy” narrative, because this sure isn’t helping his case.

A FEW FOR THE ROAD

MORE NEWS TO KEEP YOU ON THE CUTTING EDGE

• TikTok’s BeReal rip-off “Now” is toast
• Reddit shared data on the value of peer-recommendations, and how much more powerful they are than ads
• The Grimace Shake Challenge has taken over social media, and these kids are talented (of course someone made one about Twitter)

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting