Facebook Moves to Reassure on Metrics

Facebook has owned up to further errors in its reporting of page visits, and has announced moves to give users 'more clarity and confidence about the insights it provides' - including new partnerships, more communication about activities and the formation of a new 'Measurement Council'.

The social network said it had uncovered a bug in its Page Insights tool, which for the past 6 months added daily numbers without deduplicating for repeat visitors, in its stats for 7-day or 28-day organic page reach. It stressed that 'the vast majority of reach data in the Page Insights dashboard was unaffected', but said the correct de-duplicated total for the 7-day summary should be about 33% lower on average and the 28-day about 55% lower. Mark Rabkin, VP of Facebook's core ads team, said none of the errors will have an impact on billing.

Of the new measures, the company said: 'Our goal going forward is to communicate more regularly about our metrics, so that our partners can focus on doing what they do best - serving their customers - with the best insights possible'. The measures include:

• Facebook is 'exploring additional third-party reviews' to validate its reporting - adding to existing relationships with the likes of comScore, Moat, Nielsen and Integral Ad Science (IAS); and adding the ability to verify display impression data through third-party viewability verification partners, including Moat, IAS, and comScore.
• Facebook video and Facebook Live viewership will now be included in Nielsen's Digital Content Ratings (DCR), allowing comparison with digital and TV metrics in Nielsen's Total Audience Measurement.
• Facebook will work with its existing global Client Council to form a Measurement Council - with details to be announced shortly
• A new internal review process will 'ensure metrics are clear and up to date as product offerings continue to evolve' - with communication via in-product definitions, through its client teams, and via a new Metrics FYI blog.

Carolyn Everson, Facebook's Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions, quoted on www.wsj.com , says the company is now considering the possibility of submitting its procedures for audit by the USA's Media Rating Council (MRC) - a move called for by the ANA.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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