Despite Facebook’s best efforts, the platform remains riddled with hateful, inappropriate, and offensive content.
A new report from AdColony found that 60% surveyed said they
encountered foul fare on Facebook. That’s just about double the share of consumers who said they encountered such content on YouTube.
Additionally, 18% of respondents said they run into
such content in mobile games; 15% find it on Instagram; and 14% encounter it in Snapchat.
Bad content doesn’t reflect well on the ads appearing alongside it. In fact, nearly half (49%)
of consumers said bad content negatively impacts their impression of ads that accompany it.
A clear majority (60%) of consumers said such content also negatively impacts their view of the
platform.
On the upside, mobile users have become accustomed to encountering ads on Facebook. Indeed, 36% said they expect and prefer to see ads on the platform.
That’s more than
the 16% of consumers who say they prefer to encounter ads in mobile games (16%); on YouTube (15%), on Snapchat (8%) and on Instagram (7%). The fact that so few Instagram users expect and prefer to see
ads on Instagram doesn’t bode well for Facebook.
Worse, despite Instagram’s recent efforts to embrace ecommerce advertising, less than 1-in-8 consumers report making purchases
after seeing an ad on the platform.
By contrast, 1-in-4 consumers report purchasing advertised products or services after seeing ads in mobile games. Mobile games also have the lowest
incidence of “fake news,” just 8% compared to a staggering 49% on Facebook, 25% on YouTube and 20% on Google.