Their stock is down over 30% and the market cap is now dwarfed by that of it's peers in Eric Schmidt's self-proclaimed 'gang of four' (Apple, Google and Amazon, being the others). We don't know why Eric didn't include Microsoft in his exclusive group, and we don't know why there is no 'M' in FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google: the other grouping of tech stocks, made popular by analysts).

I rarely post to FB these days, but I am an avid user of Instagram and WhatsApp (both of which are owned by the company). I am not for a moment writing them off... far from it. However, with fingers pointing for the role 'fake news' played in the US election and the UK referendum - along with the Cambridge Analytica debacle - there is valid reason for concern.

Maybe they could learn from Microsoft, who were once the subject of numerous anti-trust cases, negative sentiment and a general backlash against their market dominance?... During the dot.com boom I remember MSFT vying with Cisco for the title of most valuable public company... they are now vying with Amazon: a lesson in staying power and reinvention, if nothing else.