The chosen article describes the record-breaking decline of Meta Platforms shares. Meta is one of the biggest technology conglomerates in the world, which encompasses some of the most popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Due to the 26.02% plunge, the company experienced a loss of $200 billion in market value (Ostroff & McCabe, 2022). Such a decline was caused by the launch of the Metaverse project, which focuses on virtual reality and made social media users transition to other platforms, slowing Meta’s revenue growth as a result (Ostroff & McCabe, 2022). This created a financial crisis, where the company’s investors started to disapprove of Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy.
In order to address the crisis, Meta made a public commentary on the reasons behind the decline. In addition, the company did not address the ways in which it plans to manage the crisis in the future. Hence, the chosen crisis communication strategy is the spokesperson response (Marsen, 2020). One of the guidelines for dealing with the crisis, by Warren Buffett, is to “get it right, get it fast, get it out, and get it over” (Buffett, 2021). Therefore, Meta has to understand the true causes of the crisis and find a solution to it quick with its official reactions to the decline to reassure the investors in the company’s long-term strategy. So far, the communication plan chosen by Meta Platform can rather be considered ineffective due to the company’s passive approach to making public commentary.
If I were the leader of the organization, I would focus on analyzing the reasons behind the slow growth of revenue and re-evaluate the strategies to stop the rapid decline. Secondly, I would ensure that the company’s strategy is clearly communicated to its investors, who can at least form some kind of expectations. In my opinion, this would be more effective as it would provide shareholders with more information.
References
Buffett, W. E. (2021). The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America. Cardozo Law Review’s.
Marsen, S. (2020). Navigating crisis: The role of communication in an organizational crisis. International Journal of Business Communication, 57(2), 163-175.
Ostroff, C & McCabe, C. (2022). Facebook Parent Meta’s Stock Plunges, Loses More Than $200 Billion in Value. Wall Street Journal. Web.