Don’t look now, Mark Zuckerberg, but that fat finger often leads to accidental hits, which draws into question Facebook’s claim of “high engagement on mobile ads,” according to a top analyst. (AP)
Facebook is suffering from fat-finger syndrome.
That’s the opinion of one influential Wall Street analyst — bolstered by a growing body of research — who believes that some of the company’s recently touted mobile ad performance can be chalked up to accidental or fraudulent clicks.
“Fat fingers” — when people click on an ad as they’re trying to click on something else — is an issue across the mobile Web as users try to navigate smaller screens, according to BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield.
“People don’t have trouble with a mouse or touch pads,” Greenfield told The Post yesterday. “But on mobile, when you’re gliding through on a touch screen, everything is touchable, and a lot of mistakes are happening.”
Greenfield said the issue is not confined to Facebook and that it affects all media taking advantage of mobile.
Streaming radio service Pandora, for example, serves mobile ads with tiny “close” tabs, and users often click an ad while trying to discard it, he said.
Greenfield said his anecdotal surveys show people are being hit with ads for brands they don’t recall “liking.”
Backing up his findings is a recent study by the mobile app marketing firm Trademob, which found that 40 percent of mobile-ad clicks are the result of accident or fraud.
Since before Facebook went public in May, investors have been worried about the social network’s transition to mobile.
The stock, which had slumped 46 percent since its market debut, fell 2.4 percent yesterday to $20.40.
With its stock struggling, Facebook has been trying to show investors it can quickly ramp up mobile ad sales.
The company has rolled out “Sponsored Stories” — posts from advertisers that appear in people’s news feeds.
Greenfield believes that the drive for mobile revenue will hurt the user experience and ultimately ad sales. He has cut his rating on Facebook to “sell” and set a $16 price target.
Greenfield also lowered his 2012 and 2013 revenue forecasts.
“Facebook is pushing advertising monetization harder than they should be, which we believe will harm user engagement in 2013 and beyond,” he wrote in a note to clients.
Of the social network’s 1 billion users, more than 600 million access the site through smartphones and tablets.
Facebook’s mobile ads are clicked on 14 times more frequently than desktop ads are, according to TBG Digital, a social-media marketing specialist.
“You are more likely to get an accidental click on mobile than desktop,” said Simon Mansell, TBG’s CEO. “But the click-through rate is so much higher that it’s only a small amount that is related to accidental.”
Delivering effective advertising is a “challenge for any media-type company as more usage goes onto mobile devices,” Mansell said.