Facebook has nearly two billion users, and at the touch of a button it could deliver a message to every one of them.
Yet when it really wanted to get a message across, it didn’t “boost this post.” What did it do instead? Buy full-page ads in national newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Why? Because a physical ad in a newspaper carries credibility that words on a screen don’t. It also led to discussion in the public sphere, both in real-life and online, that extended the value of that ad purchase far beyond what Facebook paid. The fact that someone is willing to pay for a print ad shows they are serious about whatever message they are trying to convey.