Meet Meta: Despite vast wealth and the platform afforded by a close to unprecedented media empire, Zuckerberg knows who is back in charge. — AFP
META CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, released last Friday, was much reported but remains underestimated as a cultural and political inflection point. Zuckerberg, the king of liberal, progressive Silicon Valley, gave up more than two hours of his (surely precious) time to attempt to charm the conservative culture warrior par excellence.
Note that Kamala Harris did not appear on Rogan’s show during last year’s US election campaign, whereas Trump did and impressed with his folksy, laid-back patter (which he calls “the weave”).
What can we infer from Zuckerberg’s genuflection to the American right? That he, despite vast wealth and the platform afforded by a close to unprecedented media empire, knows who is back in charge. Keen to demonstrate some Trumpian credentials, Zuckerberg announced recently the reversal of many of Meta’s content moderation policies. Fact-checking and politicisation are out, untrammeled “free speech” is in.
Lawmakers across the globe fret about disinformation and coordinated malicious activity on Meta’s platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, but Zuckerberg has turned his back on them.
Be in no doubt that this is commercial realism at its sharpest. Meta seeks American government protection from regulatory powers like the European Union; Zuckerberg may also be shifting toward lax content policies before Trump pushes him.
A fascinating saga, with many more twists to come I’m sure, but leaders across politics, business and policy must now ask themselves a most important question: how do I ready my organisation for this Trump-induced rupture in digital communications?
I would suggest the answer is threefold. First, given the free speech absolutism of X, formerly Twitter, and Meta’s turn in that direction, leaders must be vigilant of the ever-increasing risk of social media disinformation.
On the one hand, netizens will increasingly be able to speak truth to power – no bad thing. On the other, it will become much easier for bad actors to menace their opponents through coordinated activity, often executed by networks of fake accounts.
A false whisper about a commercial product or government policy, for example, is now less likely to be contained by the platforms themselves. Into that breach must step a sophisticated digital communications apparatus, able to detect threats early; judge sentiment to respond proportionately; and with the media contacts in place to push back if the attack enters the mainstream.
Second, as social media usership continues to explode, leaders must decide how much time to allocate to mainstream media engagement.
This decision depends on their target audience. Institutional investors, for example, are less likely to be swayed by Facebook trends. Voters in Indonesian elections increasingly are.
I would suggest that mainstream media will be strengthened, not weakened, by Meta’s more laissez faire policies. Users are increasingly adept at turning to more official sources to confirm social media chatter.
A compelling statement in a trusted media outlet may not convince every one of your organisation’s merits, but it stands a good chance of convincing the audience that truly counts.
Last, leaders with public profiles must communicate proactively. Farrant Group CEO Michael Farrant reminds his team, sometimes daily, that nature abhors a vacuum.
If your organisation attracts public attention, especially if it operates in a sensitive sector, then you need to paint yourself in a good light before someone else blots your copy book.
Given president-elect Trump is the source of this more rough-and-ready era of digital communications, might we be able to learn something from his own public relations? Most definitely.
Trump is unique – to some he is an aberration – but his team has executed a coherent, compelling comms strategy since 2015. Crucially, they understand their audience: an unwieldy electoral coalition but one united by a sense that the Democrats had gone wrong.
In terms of a message, Trump’s pitch is enduringly simple: “They made America poor and unsafe, I will make it great [again]”.
The channels by which he delivers this message are increasingly powerful: not least the alliance with Elon Musk, allowing him to dominate X, combined with a busy schedule of alt-media appearances.
Trump’s proactivity is indeed irrefutable: after a year licking his wounds, he essentially campaigned non-stop for the presidency from 2021, despite his advancing years.
It would be inadvisable for most corporate or political leaders to speak the way Trump does, shooting from the hip, not afraid (and sometimes happy) to offend his opponents. However, the president-elect’s success has been all too predictable. Why? Because Trump understands who he needs to speak to, and he understands how.
This is a simple formulation for communicators to live by. The rules of the game, and channels of choice, are changing. But human beings remain the same.
They want to be understood, and they want to be engaged, emotionally and often. Regardless of your audience, from customers to voters to investors, if you fail to engage them, prepare to bear the costs. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
Victor Haggard is an account director at strategic communications agency Farrant Group.
