In what can be considered as one of the greatest data leaks of modern times, Facebook has had everyone worried about their latest security breach. Facebook is one of the most important tools for SMBs to reach their potential customers. With the data leak issues and all kinds of rumors floating around, most businesses are shutting down their Facebook pages all over the world. But how serious is this data breach and should SMBs be worried about it? How much of it is just rumors and how much is true? Let us find out.
What happened with Cambridge Analytica?
To sum up the whole fiasco, Facebook gave access to Cambridge Analytica, which is a British political consulting firm, to gather massive amounts of data during the US Presidential Election through an app. This app extracted data not only from the people who used it but also from their friends without their knowledge.
Though Facebook doesn’t allow collecting or selling confidential user data in this manner, Cambridge Analytica found a loophole and exploited it to their advantage. Experts believe that this was done to influence voters during the election.
The outrage
This breach of confidentiality prompted the #DeleteFacebook movement which encouraged users to delete their Facebook account because of security concerns. Many technology giants such as Elon Musk deleted their personal and company Facebook pages. Many advertisers around the world have threatened to leave Facebook which will pose a huge threat to businesses.
Is your audience still on Facebook?
When the news of security breach first broke, it had a whole bunch of people in panic. However, the mass exodus has been greatly overstated by the media. According to a survey of 1,000 American Facebook users by the tech research firm Techpinions, it was found that 9% deleted their account due to privacy concerns in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Roughly, 40% of respondents said they were ‘very aware’ of the scandal. According to data gathered by strategic marketing consultancy firm Kepios, Facebook’s monthly active users (MAU) data for March 2018 indicates that very few people, if at all, have deleted Facebook.
So, your audience and potential customers are still on Facebook. Keep posting and reaching out to them.
Facebook’s take on the whole debacle
Needless to say, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was held responsible for the whole mess and was summoned before the U.S. Congress for interrogation. He took responsibility for the entire fiasco and announced that Facebook will introduce back-end and some more visible measures so that users can be in more control of their data. They will roll out a centralized system for their users to control their privacy and security settings. They had been developing this system since last year but sped it up after the whole debacle of Cambridge Analytica data leaks.
They also announced that the Partner Categories, a feature that allowed businesses to target ads on the company’s platforms by using third-party data, would be deactivated. This measure will be counterproductive if you’re using targeted ads on Facebook but there are still other ways to reach your targeted audience so don’t fret.
Here are the actions taken by Facebook as on 10th April, 2018, in wake of the data misuse issue.
Should you still invest your time and money on Facebook?
Although Facebook received a lot of flak for the data breach, small and medium businesses should still utilize the platform. As data points out, not many users have shut down their Facebook accounts. Therefore, your users are still out there and with the entire Cambridge Analytica controversy in light, Facebook has been forced to take definitive actions to improve their security. Hence, with the right security settings and responsible handling of your data, you can be safe on the platform and reach out to your audience as and when required.
