Facebook: the new arms dealer

Today when I logged into Facebook I noticed a completely new type of notification, “<competitor> added Poll Everywhere as a Page to watch”

Clicking on the notification took me to a screen that displayed how many likes my competitor has versus my company’s Facebook page.

When I access the advertiser view of the Poll Everywhere Facebook Page I can “watch” up to five pages, presumably those of my competitors.

This is a brilliant move by Facebook. They notify companies when their competitors have declared war on them and keep them informed on who is winning. I’m sure this will create a mentality where companies are much more likely to pay for “Boosted Posts” and “Increase Page Likes” just to beat the other guy.

While this really sucks for companies that advertise on Facebook, its going to be great for Facebook shareholders. One thing is for sure, it will be very interesting to see how this brash move plays out.