People are asking Google questions that are becoming more direct and personal by the second. The lines between general information and custom results are becoming stunningly blurred as data is collected and shared at alarming rates, leading to a sense of comfort and trust with machines that’s never existed before. 

But can Google really compete with the experience and insight of a now-36-year-old man? Only head-to-head battles for answering supremacy can say for certain, and I’m currently up 2-0. Tune in to this series for David vs. Googeliath battles of wit and wisdom to see who comes out on top.

Question Number 3: Why Did Meta Stock Drop?

You heard all Spring that Meta was the quick ticket to riches and glory – it was the company that couldn’t lose!

Jim Cramer loved it

Mark Zuckerberg had just applied a fresh coat of Sweet Baby Ray’s

And how about this fun new thing called the Metaverse where people are actually buying real estate for millions of dollars???

Or so you thought. You loaded up on Meta stock once you saw the hype, but what’s happened since?

Suddenly, Jim Cramer’s crying on TV asking for forgiveness, Zuck’s Sweet Baby Ray’s has turned sour, and people’s avatars are being assaulted in the Metaverse. Now you’re left holding the (empty) bag, and you’re looking for answers. 

Google’s Answer

Google’s top answer (interestingly, taken from LinkedIn – an obliquely competitive platform to Meta in its own right) isn’t super helpful. Yes, stocks dropped because revenue dropped, BUT WHY THE HELL DID REVENUE DROP AFTER YOU INVESTED SO MUCH OF YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY???

In fairness, the actual story does sort of get to the meat and potatoes of the issue, blaming TikTok’s emergence and Apple’s ad-tracking changes as taking a bite out of revenue. I guess that was a little too intricate for the Google bots to mine and highlight in their result. But how was it possible that Meta and the investment gurus didn’t see these potential hurdles before telling you to invest? It’s not like TikTok and Apple’s tracking changes were new and unexpected.

So now what? The experts told you to invest, and they’re experts, right? Shouldn’t you trust them on how to manage your money now that your investment has tanked? Surely they know what they’re talking about. Heck, this guy’s saying to double down and buy more. Sounds pretty positive, right?

Now I’m not Google, and I’m not an investment guru. But here’s my take:

The Correct Answer

Look. You’ve known for quite some time that Facebook isn’t the future – that much became obvious the moment your great uncle sent you a friend request.

The infighting, the labyrinth of menus, the weird messaging features everyone else knows how to use but you can’t even find – it’s just not a great user experience. It’s become a world of obnoxious article sharing, ideological wars, and status posts that come in only 2 flavors: passive-aggressive and outright-aggressive. Take a step back, and you see Facebook has become the smoking ruins of a once-compelling social media giant that can never be resurrected. 

By the way, have you checked out Instagram lately? You optimistically open your IG app, ready to see what your old buddies are up to, but what do you find? Regurgitated TikToks from people you’ve never heard of, and an endless supply of irrelevant ads. You enter into a 10 minute death scroll, hoping and praying to see a post from an account you follow, but all that remains are unsettling video clips and over-injected duck lips. You know you don’t belong here.

Then there’s the Metaverse. Have you seen what that looks like? 

Looks dope. Can’t wait to fight off an attempted assault in that place. 

I can’t pretend to know how the future plays out here – I’ll leave that job to Jim Cramer. What I can tell you with firm conviction: a bad user experience just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Unless you’re a government-backed entity that users aren’t allowed to opt out of, sooner or later your poor user experience will catch up with you. People will just stop using you, or they’ll replace you with someone/something that’s doing a better job.

It’s worth noting that businesses shouldn’t pull out just yet. There’s still a massive number of users on Meta products, and Facebook and Instagram are still places where you can potentially connect with new and existing customers. There’s no guarantee Meta products will make sense for your company forever, but you really can’t afford to ignore them… yet.

TL;DR

Meta’s stock tanked because they’ve allowed the user experience of their flagship products to devolve while also creating new products that still aren’t prioritizing user experience (looking at you, Metaverse).