Facebook is testing limiting links for non-verified accounts to push Meta Verified subscriptions. Experts suggest this is a revenue play, and for most businesses, that money is better spent on ads. The long-standing best practice of placing links in the first comment remains the recommended approach.
While Meta promotes benefits like increased reach for its Verified subscription, the most tangible value, especially at higher price tiers ($150-$500/month), is access to human support via phone. For most marketers, the performance benefits do not justify the cost compared to direct ad spend.
To drive traffic off Facebook without paying for ads, experts recommend moving beyond links in comments or stories. The primary strategy is to use Messenger DMs, ideally triggered by comment automations. This aligns with Meta's focus on direct interaction and allows for unrestricted link sharing in a conversational context.
The release of SAM Audio is not a pivot back to audio content but part of a larger strategy to provide integrated, powerful creation tools. By "removing friction" and offering native tools for segmenting images, video, and audio, Meta aims to keep creators on its platforms and reduce their need for external apps like CapCut.
Meta's investments in hardware (Ray-Ban glasses), AI models (SAM), and its core apps point to a unified vision. The goal is a seamless experience where a user can capture content via hardware, have AI instantly edit and enhance it, and post it to social platforms in multiple languages, making creation nearly effortless.
Meta's purchase of agentic AI company Manus is a direct response to losing ground in the AI race. After their open-source Llama model failed to gain significant traction, this acquisition provides advanced workflow automation technology, repositioning Meta to compete with rivals by building a "personal super intelligence" for its massive user base.
Despite the promise of Meta's Manus acquisition, experts advise caution. Given Meta's history of failing to embed enterprise platforms like "Workplace by Facebook," businesses should treat Manus-powered tools as a pilot project. Wait until Meta's integration strategy and monetization model are clear before making it a standard part of your workflow.
A primary internal use case for the Manus acquisition could be deploying its agentic AI to handle Meta's notoriously poor customer support. By creating automated agents trained on all support data, Meta could provide 24/7, effective solutions for common user issues, a significant improvement over its current inconsistent human support system.