Facebook must be feeling defensive lately. Their latest small business initiative is a way to secure and increase their advertising base as well as to increase the use of their options for brands. Facebook has also announced the creation of a Political Action Committee, otherwise known as PAC, whose purpose is to lobby Congress about the importance of social networks and Facebook particularly.
According to The Hill Facebook has already spent $550,000 this year on lobbying efforts. That number has been increasing every year for a few years now. The PAC will allow employees and the company itself to contribute to the political campaigns of candidates that support social networking and digital innovation.
As long as Facebook represents the single largest and most influential online destination, this move is good for the digital agency. Congress has yet to settle the privacy concerns in digital advertising and the PAC may help promote pro-advertising opinions in Congress. Of course, there is concern this influence may not work for the industry but instead specifically for Facebook as Google’s anti-trust concerns increasingly comes to Congressional attention. The big payoff, with few of the risks, lies in devoting the PAC to the future of the industry and not in the issues specifics of Facebook competitors. The digital agency can probably breathe a little easier as it looks ahead to Congressional involvement in the industry.
