Once you accept that Facebook is structurally unreliable, the next question becomes unavoidable. If not this… then what?

Facebook marketing doesn’t usually fail loudly. It fails quietly. There’s no clear moment where a small business owner decides, “This isn’t working anymore.”

In the late 2000s, Facebook was positioned as a free, democratic way for small businesses to compete with larger brands. No media budget required. No gatekeepers. Just a page, some content, and a growing network of customers.