News Information and Media Site: Byers Market Exclusive: Adam Mosseri on Instagram, Facebook and the future of social media

March 11, 2020

By DYLAN BYERS in Los Angeles &

AHIZA GARCÍA-HODGES in San Francisco

Good morning. 🇺🇸 Joe Biden won big last night, extending his delegate lead over Bernie Sanders. The former vice president is now the clear favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

😷 Corona latest: Google has asked its North American employees to work from home until at least April 10; CNN's Democratic debate on March 15 will be held without a live audience.

Join the Market: 🗞️ Newsletter | 🎙️ Podcast

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🎙️ The Market Podcast

Adam Mosseri on Instagram, Facebook and the future

Moving the Market: On this week's episode of The Byers Market Podcast, Instagram head Adam Mosseri weighs in on the cultural and societal impacts of social media, the problems at Facebook and the fight to stay relevant against competitors like TikTok and Snapchat.

• In a wideranging, hour-long conversation, Mosseri also talks about his relationship with Mark Zuckerberg ("We can disagree passionately, but... there's a lot of trust") and Instagram's plan to get rid of "like counts" in order to "depressurize the experience."

The big picture: Mosseri says Instagram has avoided controversy in part because Facebook "serves as a s--- umbrella for Instagram." He also says Facebook is more heavily scrutinized by news outlets because it disrupted the news industry.

• "Facebook is the poster child for the internet; the internet is fundamentally what disrupted the news industry's business models," he says. "They always say... 'Don't pick a fight with anybody who buys ink by the barrel.'"

• Much of the media criticism of Facebook is warranted, Mosseri concedes, but he argues that Facebook has demonstrated unprecedented commitment to fixing its problems and believes that should be recognized.

• "You can disagree with specific policy decisions or enforcement decisions. But people who accuse us now of not having good intent, of not actually trying to take our responsibility seriously and not investing appropriately to fix those challenges, are just not looking at the actual facts."

What's next: Mosseri says Instagram has "over-optimized for people's shorter-term preferences" and that it is now trying to provide a more meaningful experience: "The better we get, the more people will feel good about the time that they spend on the platform."

Listen to the episode here.

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Friend Invite

Adam Mosseri on Evan Spiegel

Big in the Bay, big in L.A.: Mosseri reveals that he's never met Evan Spiegel, the Snapchat chief who is credited with inventing the Stories format that has since become a central feature on Instagram (an enduring source of resentment for the folks at Snap).

• "They invented that format. They get the credit for that format. They should get the credit for that format," Mosseri says on the podcast. "We have to be willing to acknowledge when someone did something awesome and try to learn from it."

What's next: "I've never met Evan, but I know that he's super smart," Mosseri says. "I would love to have a cup of coffee. If he's down, I'm down."

📷 Insta-Advice 📷

"Don't double Insta," Mosseri warns, referring to posting twice to your Instagram feed in one day. "Can't do that."

• "I think it's OK ... but young people don't think it's OK," he says. "It looks like you're trying too hard."

Bloomberg/Getty

Head Hunting

AT&T eyes Randy Freer, Jason Kilar for WarnerMedia chief

Moving Manhattan: AT&T has approached former Hulu chiefs Randy Freer and Jason Kilar about taking the helm at WarnerMedia as it looks for a suitable candidate to take over for John Stankey, The Information's Jessica Toonkel scoops.

• The telecom giant is also eyeing CNN president Jeff Zucker for the post, Toonkel writes, confirming our report from six months ago that he was the top internal candidate for the job.

• AT&T also approached former Disney exec Tom Staggs, though the discussions "didn't lead anywhere." Amazon exec Jeff Blackburn has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.

The big picture: "The search may indicate that AT&T is preparing to promote Stankey to be CEO of the telecom giant," Toonkel writes. "Stankey's elevation to the COO slot suggested he was the likely successor to CEO Randall Stephenson."

• What's next: "With the timing of the search, AT&T appears to be positioning itself to announce a successor to Stephenson shortly after the launch of the HBO Max service."

Market Links

• Evan Spiegel wins the Fast Company innovation honor (FC)

• Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev max out their credit line (Bloomberg)

• Brian Chesky unveils more flexible Airbnb reservations (NYT)

• Charlie Scharf promises a new future for Wells Fargo (Axios)

• Steve Burke explores streaming options for 'Today' (Variety)

Bloomberg/Getty

Combatting Corona

Zuckerberg, Gates vs. the virus

How to spend it: "Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have announced new attempts to expand testing for the novel coronavirus in their local areas," Recode's Teddy Schleifer reports.

• The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will purchase clinical diagnostic machines "to quadruple the ability for testing and diagnosing possible cases of the disease in the San Francisco Bay Area."

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will "fund its own testing kits that Seattleites can use at home and send in for analysis."

The big picture: Zuckerberg and Gates are "playing a much-needed role at a time when billionaire philanthropy is criticized more than ever for supplanting government action."

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Friends Like These

Harvey Weinstein's final plea

Talk of Tinseltown: Harvey Weinstein reached out to Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and several other wealthy and powerful connections for help as he faced allegations of sexual assault and pressure from his board to resign, NYT's Jan Ransom reports.

• Weinstein "made a desperate plea for help in emails to two dozen influential people," including former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos and NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News.)

• "My board is thinking of firing me," Weinstein wrote. "All I'm asking for is, let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counseling whether it be in a facility or somewhere else, and allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance."

The big picture: The emails, released as part of a trove of previously sealed court documents, provide insight "into the effort by Mr. Weinstein and his representatives to portray him as a troubled man who badly wanted to right his wrongs."

• Top talker: "In one email, Mr. Weinstein suggested that the actress Jennifer Aniston — who he believed had complained about him — should be killed."

What's next: Weinstein faces up to 29 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced today.

🏠 What's next: Working from home. NYT's Kevin Roose says it's overrated: "Home-cooked lunches and no commuting while we deal with coronavirus can't compensate for what's lost in creativity."

See you tomorrow.