From the archive. First published in December 2015. Rewritten for clarity, with a note on what happened afterwards.
In late 2015 Facebook was quietly building Professional Services, a directory letting people find local businesses such as electricians and plumbers, with ratings and reviews, across more than 80 business categories.
What happened to it
It was discontinued. The local services directory never became a significant product, and the local discovery ambition was folded into other surfaces, principally Marketplace and recommendations inside the feed.
Why this keeps happening, and why it matters here
This blog has by now documented a long list of Facebook products that arrived with real investment and were later shut down: Professional Services, Instant Articles, Watch original programming, the Explore Feed, face recognition, 360 photos, tabbed feeds. Each had businesses built on it.
For anyone buying an audience asset, the operational conclusion is specific. When you value a page, separate the parts that are durable from the parts that are rented.
- Durable: a genuine audience in a defined niche, concentrated in markets where advertisers spend, with a posting history that shows people respond.
- Rented: a position in whichever format is currently favoured, a product surface, a monetisation programme, a particular metric.
Pay for the first. Treat the second as a bonus that may not survive the next product review.
The same logic across platforms
This is why the platforms where ownership transfers cleanly, such as YouTube Brand Accounts, Telegram channels and email newsletters, deserve more attention from anyone building assets deliberately. They distribute by subscription or search rather than by behavioural ranking, so the asset survives both a handover and a product cull. We compare them in where else to build an audience.
Thinking of selling?
We give free valuations with no obligation. Send us the page URL and a representative replies with a figure, usually within one business day. Looking to buy instead? Register as a buyer.
