Should charities reconsider how they use Facebook?

When whistle-blower Frances Haugen recently testified in front of Congress, saying that Facebook had put profit above the wellbeing of users and that it had not taken sufficient action to restrict harmful content, she delivered a body blow to the platform the same week as a major outage, which also affected the other networks it owns, Instagram and WhatsApp.

 

Mark Zuckerberg argued that Haugen’s claims are “just not true” and that they “don’t make sense”. Yet the daily volume of negative news stories about Facebook and other social media tell us how society’s attitudes are changing. Anyone with a presence on social media – including charities – is likely to be asking themselves where they go from here.

 

There’s been disquiet about Facebook for some time. Following the Cambridge Analytica story in 2018, a number of trustees raised concerns with me about the platform.

 

Recently NSPCC and the Home Office have been trying to stop Facebook bringing in end-to-end encryption, with the latter estimating that 12 million reports of potential child abuse could be lost if this is introduced.

 

However, it’s likely that your charity may be using Facebook to reach supporters and fundraise. So what should your next steps be?

 

 

Review how you’re using Facebook

 

As the press stories show, perceptions of Facebook have changed. Ross McCulloch, director of Thirdsectorlab, points out that, “We have long known that Facebook’s goal is data collection and monetisation by the careful creation of algorithms designed to suck in our attention in increasingly extreme ways. But Frances Haughen’s recent whistle-blower revelations have shown how far Facebook has possibly gone.”

 

Sarah Clarke, head of membership at CharityComms, who is also part of the Charities Against Hate comms group, shares these concerns. She told me: “It’s clear that the current processes in place, such as rules on minimum audience size for advertising and the minimal success of AI in removing hate speech, violent images, and other problem content, are not working.”

 

The problem is that the business model for many charities is intertwined with Facebook. It’s not unusual for charities to be raising significant funds through the platform, as well as being dependent on it for campaigning and service delivery. It’s hard to walk away from.

 

If I was working for a charity reliant on Facebook, I would undertake a root and branch review of how you’re using it across all areas of your organisation, mapping out the risks to your work as well as your users, and what can be done to mitigate these.

 

If the risk is significant enough, you may even need to look at getting it on your risk register, and on the agenda for your next board meeting.

 

I’d document what your back-up plan will be if the platform goes down for a significant length of time, or if your charity decides to stop using it.

 

 

Diversify your digital presence

 

The issues at Facebook are compounded by the fact that it’s a mature product. Founded in the early noughties, engagement among younger users is in decline, according to leaked research.

 

In addition, the outage we saw across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp recently shows that not diversifying has become a risk in itself.

 

Imagine if your charity had a Facebook Live or a major campaign that coincided with another period of downtime, representing a significant threat to business continuity and sustainability.

 

Clarke counsels charities to, “recognise the risks of non-diversification of advertising or fundraising channels at senior level within their organisation, devise diverse advertising plans where possible, and empower marketeers to make diverse choices on digital spending.”

 

Civil society tech expert Rhodri Davies recommends that charities monitor the situation and, “take regular stock of their own reliance on digital tools (including scenario planning for what they would do if those tools were no longer available).”

 

He also suggests exploring other options. For example, you might want to focus on growing your email newsletter list or beefing up the SEO on your website so it’s more visible.

 

 

Talk to other charities

 

There has been some great work in the sector on this issue. The Charities Against Hate group is campaigning to bring positive change to social platforms. They offer help and resources as do the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Glitch .

 

You could also talk to charities through your networks to find out how they are tackling this challenge.

 

 

What will happen next?

 

Regulation is coming. In the UK, the draft Online Safety Bill will make digital platforms responsible for harmful content, and the new Digital Markets Unit will scrutinise mergers and acquisitions of tech companies.

 

For many charities, it won’t be realistic for them to stop using Facebook. Rather, I think we should be using our collective voice as a sector to lobby for change through the organisations I’ve mentioned above.

 

However, we need to consider what these developments indicate about the future of Facebook. Zuckerberg is apparently planning to rebrand Facebook as part of becoming a metaverse. That plus the incoming regulation means the platform will look different a few years.

 

Charities have grown their digital skills and confidence during the pandemic and what’s troubling about these press stories is that Facebook do not seem to be following the principles that many of us now take for granted, such as being user led and working in the open.

 

A global group of more than 50 child safety organisations are campaigning for Facebook to be more transparent. Alison Trew, Senior Child Safety Online Policy Officer at the NSPCC, says: “We’re calling on Facebook to publish its research on how the design of their sites contribute to serious harm, including sexual abuse, and take significant steps to address the problem.”

 

I don’t think Facebook are tracking the right metrics. They’re a huge, wealthy company and their business model has always been about eyeballs and engagement translating into money. Yet this isn’t the only way to measure success.

 

The kind of relationship we all have with Facebook, whether it’s sharing news of births, marriages ,and deaths or donating to causes that mean a lot to our friends and families, is emotive and high touch. It doesn’t work without trust. That’s the real currency that powers the platform.

 

There’s only one way an organisation can go once they start losing the trust of the people who support them: decline. We only need to look at what happened to Kodak and Blockbusters to see that no company, however powerful, is immune. Facebook’s dominant market position doesn’t make it invincible.

 

As a sector, we need to plan for whatever happens to it next.