Anomalies in Facebook’s Numbers
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has discovered more errors in how it calculates the interactions between users and content. These miscalculations are particularly worrisome to advertisers and publishers.
Four measurements—including impressions that are tracked weekly and monthly for marketers, the number of full video views, and time spent on Instant Article pages—were found to be faulty. (Source: “ Facebook Says It Found More Miscalculated Metrics,” The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 2016.)
Advertisement
An internal audit of Facebook’s metrics showed that glitches in the company’s software had led to either over- or under-counting in those measurements, though they didn’t specify by how much.
The details are still sketchy, but Facebook Vice-President Mark Rabkin insists that no clients were overcharged as a result of the errors. All we know is that Facebook was not subtracting repeat visitors from its count of how many people viewed marketers’ organic posts.
These were unpaid posts that they submitted on Facebook. There was no additional money exchanged to push the content, yet Facebook inflated the numbers by 33% over a seven-day period and 55% over a 28-day period.
On the other hand, the company underrepresented how many people watched video ads all the way through. The adjusted numbers are probably going to show a 35% increase in the number of fully watched ad videos.
Publishers and marketers are now wholly dependent on platforms like Facebook and Google to reach their audience, meaning they count on the company to provide reliable metrics.
As such, there was an uproar when Facebook announced it had accidentally inflated the amount of time users spend watching video ads. The mistakes stretched back across two years.
Advertisers were understandably upset by the news, so Facebook has taken action.
It is expanding the scope of third-party companies to verify their numbers. This means that Facebook users will be able to see corroboration from measurement companies like Moat, Inc., Integral Ad Science, Inc., and The Nielsen Company (US), LLC.
In particular, Nielsen is working with Facebook to count its various categories of views. Since Nielsen is the premier measurement company for traditional programming, having its input could help advertisers judge their success rates evenly across platforms.
There will also be a Measurement Council of marketers and advertising executives where the industry can share its concerns with Facebook. Additional communication to the broader public will be available through a newly created blog.
