*By Conor White*
After losing $136 billion in market cap in less than a week, Facebook is looking for ways to reinvigorate its outlook at a time of slowing ad revenue growth, [continued fallout](https://cheddar.com/videos/facebook-stock-crushed-after-disappointing-earnings) from the Cambridge Analytical data privacy scandal, and the [latest revelation](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/us/politics/facebook-political-campaign-midterms.html) Tuesday that it's detected attempts to influence this November's midterm elections.
"It's been a long 2018 for Facebook," said Madison Malone Kircher, an associate editor at New York Magazine. "Which brings us to the one thing Facebook is doing right, and that's the Stories platform. It works really well on Instagram, which Facebook owns, and they've really been trying to push to make it work on Facebook."
Instagram Stories has 400 million daily users, double the number of users of rival Snapchat, and Facebook has been trying to lure advertisers to the Stories platform.
Kircher said in an interview Tuesday with Cheddar that neither of the social media companies has figured out how to make user-generated stories on their platforms profitable.
"Snapchat, which is the creator of this style of posting, has also struggled with it," Kircher said. "They rolled out a new platform called 'Commercials' this week, which is similarly trying to figure out how to sell ads against this style of content."
In the end, Kircher said Facebook can push Stories to advertisers all it wants, but it won't be successful until it's popular with users.
"It's a two-fold problem Facebook has," Kircher said. "One, trying to convince advertisers to buy ads in this space, but first they have to figure out how to get us to use it."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/facebook-pushing-stories-feature-to-advertisers).
Facebook is unveiling a redesigned, simplified version of its Messenger app that recalls the basic chat service the social media giant released as standalone app in 2014. Stan Chudnovsky, Facebook's head and VP of Messenger, told Cheddar's Hope King that the purpose of the overhaul was to "go back to the roots" with a simple, easy-to-use interface that prioritizes chats between friends.
U.S. stocks took a major hit on Tuesday, with the Dow opening 400 points down and tech stocks still struggling. The Nasdaq reentered correction territory, down more than 10 percent from its all-time highs.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
President Erdogan of Turkey demanded action from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the "premeditated" and "savage" murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as SoftBank's CEO became the latest top executive to pull back from Saudi Arabia's investor summit.
Viacom's MTV is rebooting its "Real World" franchise by launching the show on Facebook Watch. Wall Street Journal Media Reporter Keach Hagey explains what this means for the company's streaming strategy.
Ford's new "Built Ford Proud" campaign is the work of the Wieden+Kennedy agency, long known for its creative ads for Nike ($NKE) ー including its controversial ad featuring ex-quarterback and activist Kaepernick. The first "Built Ford" ad stars Bryan Cranston inhabiting a series of cinematic personas that all take subtle digs at the tech industry.
A lead TV analyst suspects Netflix may be battling a case of nerves as the streaming giant turns to the debt markets for the third time in a year. "I think it's a reaction to the fact that Warner is coming into the picture, and Disney," Alan Wolk, a co-founder and lead analyst at TV[R]EV, told Cheddar Monday. "Suddenly, that market ー especially in the U.S. ー is getting crowded."
Amazon, Alphabet, Twiter, and other big tech companies are set to report quarterly earnings this week. Elon Musk says The Boring Company's high-speed transit tunnel will be open to the public on December 10. And Zane Holtz, star of the upcoming film 'Hunter Killer,' joins Cheddar to discuss what it's like working with big-name talent such as Gary Oldman and Gerard Butler in this new movie.
Aurora Cannabis will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, though it already trades in Canada. Debra Borchardt, co-founder and CEO of the Green Market Report, predicts how the stock will fare in its NYSE debut.
In the wake of two massive data scandals this year, the tech company is reportedly looking to acquire a company that can help beef up its cybersecurity. The Information reporter Sarah Kuranda, who broke the story, told Cheddar why Facebook is willing to pay top dollar for a big name in the space.
