Michael Wright

Social Media Evangelist Strawberry Lemonade

Michael Wright helped build Facebook's ads business from 2014-2019, overseeing global ads product training and orientation for Facebook and Instagram account managers. During his tenure, he witnessed the incredible power of social for bringing communities together and adding economic value, but also social media's dark side. Election interference; fake news; hate speech; political polarization. In 2019, he left the company in protest when the policy team refused to remove several prominent Pages propagating fake news and hate speech (these Pages were later removed). As a social media evangelist, he believes that businesses have a responsibility to maintain ethical standards that extend beyond platform policy. Highly effective brands tap into the power of community by aligning with causes and fostering online conversation. As marketers with loud public voices, how do we manage such conversations? At what point does audience segmentation become pandering? And how do we promote diversity of representation through marketing while maximizing profits? The impact of social media on our communities is still being revealed; help us answer these questions and more at a roundtable discussion on social media marketing ethics for brands.