The ad-based business model: Would Facebook change it?

The Facebook lead architect of the ad-based business model announced it would leave company. We try to foresee how her move could affect company’s advertising strategy. Sheryl Sandberg said in a blog post that it was time to write “the next chapter of my life.”

Sandberg was the lead architect of the ad-based model

Sandberg was the second-in-command to Mark Zuckerberg, She joined the company when she was only 23 years old. In time, she became one of the most visible executives at the company.

But Sandberg’s most important role in the development of the platform was as the lead architect of the ad-based model. Thus, she brought both the management experience and knowledge of the ad industry. As a result, what was at that time a startup became a giant.

At that moment, the company’s revenue was $272 million, while the net loss was $56 million. Three years after, the revenue reached $3.7 billion, with a profit of $1 billion. In 2021, Meta ended with $118 billion in revenue and earnings of $39.4 billion.

Yes, companies paid this money in order to reach Meta’s platforms users, mainly Facebook.

Cambridge Analytica was linked to her name

Every time Facebook was involved in a big scandal, Sandberg defended the company. Usually she was arguing that executives were learning from their mistakes. She also took responsibility to fix the systems that failed.

But under her leadership, the Cambridge Analytica scandal started, in 2018. The company managed to improperly aquire data on millions of U.S. users, in order to target election advertising.

Also, she was in charge when U.N. investigators accused Facebook for its key role in spreading hate speech in Myanmar. Moreover, last year, Sandberg said that the attack on he U.S. Capitol was organized on other platforms. Her comment came after researchers had identified similar activity on Facebook.

How could the company change?

The main business model, based on ads, seems to change. This happnes after the company earned a lot of money, but also ran into huge scandals.

The new directions are already visible, as Meta offered an early glimpse of its physical store.

Sandberg’s place will be taken by Javier Olivan, Chief Growth Officer, according to Mark Zuckerberg. He emphasized that Meta will focus now more on the integration of the business groups. We will see if this means less ads or even the death of Facebook as we know it.

Until then, you can keep ads and tracking away from your computer. The Ad Guardian Plus ad blocker is one of the best solutions for this.