Facebook to drop staunch defensive stance to revamp its public image

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly approved a new initiative named Project Amplify, which will consist of implementing various strategies to shed a positive light on the social media giant’s public image.

The idea, which was conceived at an internal meeting in January this year, had a clear-cut goal: to use Facebook’s treasured asset; the News Feed, to broadcast positive stories about the social network.

The proposed move will push news items that portray the brighter side of Facebook with some of these being written by the company itself. However, the approach is likely to be a sensitive one as it will be the first time that Facebook uses its platform to promote its reputation.

It is worth noting that the aggressive image-building strategy also extends to the CEO himself. Since January, the social networking company has been focused on changing its narrative by distancing Mr. Zuckerberg from controversies, burying potentially negative reports about its content, and limiting outsiders’ access to internal data.

The decision denotes a calculated shift in strategy as Facebook had a standard approach of dealing with several controversies surrounding privacy, misinformation, and hate speech on its platform by apologizing publicly.

According to sources, Zuckerberg now plans to portray himself as an innovator. To facilitate this move, the communications team at Facebook came up with a strategy to distance the CEO from scandals by focusing on his media appearances for new products, and his Facebook posts.

For several years, Facebook executives have expressed their dissent at how the company seemed to face more scrutiny than rivals Twitter & Google. They ascribed attention to Facebook’s conciliatory approach and its constant provision of access to internal data.

The virtual meeting held in January was concluded with executives deciding to issue fewer public apologies, promoting favorable news about the company, and running advertisements that linked to such optimistic articles.

Source Credits –

https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/no-more-apologies-inside-facebook-s-push-to-defend-its-image-121092200191_1.html