Facebook to make brands pay usage fees (maybe)

Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2014. 'After two consecutive quarters of Facebook failing to reach analysts profit forecasts, the pressure is really on Zuckerberg and his team to deliver greater value from their 1.5 billion users. Successive ad models, including the latest iteration of their mobile ad format have failed to deliver the required levels of return, yet Facebook remains central to the marketing of nearly every major brand and consumer sign-up continues at record levels, especially amongst the emerging BRIC markets. One key sector analyst points back to the largely ignored warning sign when General Motors pulled their Facebook advertising budget in May 2012, yet GM continued with their expenditure on rich content and consumer engagement through their Facebook brand pages. Many industry insiders feel Facebook will have no choice but to implement a charging structure to companies based on the level of their usage and number of likers. "What are brands going to do," said one source, "Facebook have them over a barrel, they've spent years engaging with their target audience on someone else's platform for free, now it's time to pay up."