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EU MINISTERS WILL hold emergency talks today on tightening border checks after the killing of the ringleader of the Paris attacks in an apartment in the French capital raised troubling questions about the bloc’s security.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin suspected of masterminding the attacks that left 129 people dead in the name of the Islamic State group, died in Wednesday’s assault by police on an apartment in northern Paris.
The 28-year-old was thought to have been in Syria — where he had boasted of planning attacks on the West — and his presence in France has raised questions about Europe’s handling of the region’s worst migrant crisis since World World II.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Paris had received no warning from other EU members that Abaaoud was in the bloc, and it was “urgent that Europe wakes up, organises itself and defends itself against the terrorist threat”.
European Union interior and justice ministers are to meet in Brussels where they will discuss tightening checks on all travellers at the external borders of the 26-nation Schengen zone as an emergency measure.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said some of the killers in the Paris attacks had taken advantage of Europe’s migrant crisis to “slip in” unnoticed and warned the cherished Schengen zone would be in danger if the bloc did not improve border controls.
Abaaoud’s links to Syria and the discovery of a Syrian passport near the dead body of one of the gunmen have also stoked concerns elsewhere that jihadists could be posing as refugees from the war-torn country as a cover for plotting attacks.
In the US, the Republican-dominated Congress on Thursday voted to ban Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States until tougher screening measures are in place.
And in Russia, itself still reeling after a Russian passenger plane was downed in Egypt killing 224 people on board in another attack claimed by IS, both chambers of parliament will hold extraordinary meeting on tackling terrorism on Friday.
Abaaoud was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by Belgium, where a court had in July sentenced him in absentia to 20 years in prison for recruiting jihadists for Syria.
But it was only three days after the Paris bloodbath that “intelligence services of a country outside Europe indicated they had knowledge of his presence in Greece”, Cazeneuve said, without specifying which country.
Abaaoud was also checked by police at Cologne-Bonn airport on his way to Istanbul in early 2014, German officials said, but was allowed to go as they had no indication he should be stopped.
He was finally tracked down in Paris after a tip-off from Moroccan intelligence services, according to police sources.
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Here’s the start of the slide. When I seen this I tried to remember one add I seen on Facebook and I honestly can’t remember one.
True and basically that’s their only real source of income ! They have a terrible search engine too. I bet you that they will introduce a Facebook pro account with a yearly subscription with some extra useless frills in order to compensate
I have adverised on Facebook, waste of money ( for me at least). But then I should have trusted my instinct seeing as I have never clicked on a FB ad.
Is it a bit strange that this is announced just before the share offering?
Not at all strange I reckon. They will reduce the price of the shares now, from the original stated price ($34-38 per share), and that will act as an incentive for more people to buy the shares in anticipation of the next big thing from Facebook. This ‘next big thing’ will then boost the shares value; then the punter would make a profit. Of course, that won’t happen, as the bubble appears to be bursting.
PS all of what I said, is just speculation. That’s what I think will happen :-)
The next big fine from Facebook?
Implosion
Thing, not fine
That headline is an out and out lie… I read the press release. They clearly stated that it was NOT saying their ads were ineffective that it was part of a general review of how advertising dollars were being spent by the company and how they might be gain a greater per $1 return
Am I reading the journal or the daily mail here
I had a look at reports from a few other media organisations and none of them report the claim that Facebook ads don’t work.
Could the author confirm if she made that bit up / was misled / knows some extra information the others don’t know?
This type of reporting could be considered defamatory if the claim is unfounded.
Hi James, Andrew.
Looking into this now. Thanks for your comments
Emer
Have you got a link, I clicked on both links and they both seem pretty clear. But I know there’s a bit of laziness (not to mention s**t stirring from time to time ) done by thejournal so ill approach with caution.
Facebook ads work but they are not even remotely as effective as other online ad formats. You receive a much greater return on investment from Google Ads that on Facebook. I’ve done a lot of online campaigns for businesses over the laalst 3 years and I find Facebook ones a money pit.
Jeez lads relax, I’d say of all the companies in the world, Facebook certainly doesn’t need private people defending it so vehemently!
Diarmaid, I’m more concerned about fair and accurate reporting to be honest. I want to know I can trust a media outlet to only report the truth. I have no interest in reading fabrication.
Obviously, mistakes can be made but I’m sure the Journal doesn’t want to get a bad reputation, and doesn’t want to be done for defamation.
It’s hardly defamation to point out that spending money on Facebook Ads is not the best thing to do with it, given the dire conversion rates (even just to get likes never mind sales) and the expense involved.
Fagan, the article has since been amended. It originally made a much stronger, untrue allegation.
Thats what you call a zukerpunch!
Passing fad, be worth nothing in 10 years. Remember Bebo?
While the website might eventually fade into obscurity, I suspect the idea behind it will continue to grow.
Marketeers have always wanted information on consumers’ habits. Previously handing people questionnaires on the street was the best they could get. Now millions of consumers happily give detailed information on their likes, dislikes, locations, actions and friends. Gold-dust like this won’t be let slip away.
We’re looking at a dot com crash 2.0 in the near future. Just look at the over inflated price of 1billion for instagram
Facebook is a totally unproven medium where the ads actually are very small and too plentiful and contrary to belief very expensive. On top of that it exploded in value all of a sudden. If ever there was a bubble Facebook is certainly residing in it!
A company that legally owns all the deep personal data given to it by its 900 million users and they still cant keep advertisers on board, what do you think they’re going to try sell next? Anyone who goes for the IPO at that price is insane, still huge question marks about its money making potential.
it just amazes me its taken this long for any company to cop on. how many users of Facebook actually take a blind bit of notice to the rather annoying advert on their personal space?, few if any I believe. I reckon GM’s move is only the beginning, facebook, like groupon are way over valued & I sense another bubble bursting with this 100 billion valuation, absolute madness.
I always believed Facebook had great advertising potential. But the very first poster made me also realise I don’t remember a single specific ad on Facebook. YouTube on the other hand, I remember plenty. Video just had a way bigger impact. It always demands your attention. They play before what you want to see. They may need to shift advertising style on Facebook. But will people put up with it more invasive ads on there?
Wait till it goes public and we’ll see how long the shareholders share Mark Zuckerberg’s “vision” for Facebook. If they don’t get the return they are expecting year on year, he’ll be gone, with Facebook following in his footsteps as it will become so commercialised, people will turn away from it in droves.
not so, he has cleverly created a scenario that he retains more voting rights than any group or individual share holding.
Not really, considering he’s retaining over 57.3% of voting rights as his are Class B shares compared with the Class A shares that are being offered and therefore ten-fold of the voting rights.
Its the dot.com bubble for Facebook generation, over valued with no real revenue stream
People are goldfish where economics are concerned, Governments depend on that fact.
Facebook ads are the perfect way to go for many start up and SMEs
They are the worst format for an SME. Google AdWords have a much greater conversion rate and are significantly cheaper. Facebook can be good for branding but have poor conversion to sales.
The value of Facebook, like Twitter & Instagram is based primarily on perception IMHO. Perception is by it’s nature fleeting which could make FB et.al a very bad long term investment.
Dead right mark. Good short term investment though I would say alot of the politicians in the states will make a fortune with all the pre IPO stock they got in return for relaxing privacy protection for Facebook. It’s a bad long term investment, can see zuckerburg retiring in a year or two and hanging up his Facebook hat and putting on a investment firm hat instead.
Is it just me or do adds not work in general?
The only adds that seem to have some slight effect on me are the ones for food.
But even then it just makes me a tad peckish – not wanting to go out and buy that specific product.
I honestly can’t understand how people would be influenced by advertisements on TV, the internet or anywhere else.
Whoa everybody – looks like we got ourselves a ‘Thinker’
Aranthos, brand awareness is huge, most people that go into a shop, any type of shop will generally go for the safe option, if you have seen the brand name , either subtly, or in a more obvious way you will be more inclined to go for that product.
While alot of people hunt for value, most people just go with whats handiest and known.
In fact, most people dont even know why they are purchasing a particular product, as arrogant as that sounds, its actually true.
Never have clicked on a Facebook add, never will! The app on Iphone is so crap these days clicking on adds is the the last thing on my mind ….!!
You don’t have to click on ads for them to be effective. Display ads can often be charged on a Cost-per-thousand-impressions basis, indicating that someone seeing the ad can be effective enough, even without clicking.
looks like the “wheels” are falling off Facebook….
Facebook is for kids, kids aint interested in ads.
Most face book users are between 25-40. The fact that it is not for Kids is what has made it so long lasting. Myspace and Bebo were for kids, they were dropped when people left teenage years behind.
GM’s marketing manager should be asked why they choosed FB to advertise cars seeing that FB’s target audience is 15-25 yr olds who probably dont buy cars !
Brand awareness, same as why banks here, go all out to get students signed up. They are still continuing to spend 30mn on content for Facebook.
He will also be the toast of GM for making their brand a global talking story this month, every time the IPO is mentioned, General Motors page will be mentioned.
I reckon they’ll get a good few likes on the page as a result of all this.
There customer base is China, don’t need us.
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