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More people are noticing Facebook’s demise into a shady digital bazaar: The Meta-owned platform is no longer viewed as a social media website by many — users now see Facebook as a (mostly second-hand) e-commerce platform on par with Craigslist and eBay, argues The Atlantic. Of Facebook’s 3.1 bn monthly active users, a staggering 1.2 bn are active buyers that use its Marketplace, according to 2023 data.
Not a smooth experience: The platform has quietly become the world’s largest garage sale, hosting a plethora of spam posts, sketchy discounts, and scammy DMs, The Atlantic writes.
How did it come to be? The Marketplace’s proliferation is the result of supply chain hurdles that emerged during the pandemic, and rising interest in secondhand goods against the backdrop of soaring inflation. As new items became harder to source — and much more expensive — previously overlooked “pre-owned” goods became not just acceptable, but sought after.
Younger users — who had long distanced themselves from Facebook qua social media — also appear to be doomscrolling on the platform’s Marketplace, mimicking the addictive mechanics of the apps that pushed them away in the first place. The Atlantic concedes that Marketplace’s algorithm knows you all-too-well as to spend an ungodly amount of time and money on it.
Facebook’s “evolution” into a commerce-driven platform was less a pivot than a long-unfolding inevitability. Features like the “Like” button were never about connection but tools for data extraction to be sold off to advertisers, The Atlantic writes, explaining that with Marketplace now at the center, the platform has dropped the facade that it’s about connection.
Our own experience: A quick scroll through the Marketplace tab on our own Facebook accounts yielded less than stellar results — we were overflooded with real estate listings — but a quick survey of the room showed that some of us here at Enterprise HQ use Facebook Marketplace to source secondhand finds, from appliances to furniture.
Don’t be fooled: The Marketplace should be approached with caution, seeing as anyone can become a seller. Our advice: If a listing looks too good to be true, there’s a very good chance it is.
