Will you add a brand as a Facebook friend?
Mark Zuckerberg and the gang at Facebook have finally decided to release the hounds on advertising within their massively popular social networking site. Are you going to play ball?
Mark Zuckerberg and the gang at Facebook have finally decided to release the hounds on advertising within their massively popular social networking site. Are you going to play ball?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or, heaven forbid, you don’t pay as close attention to the ever-changing world of online media as we do, you’ve probably heard the two recent announcements concerning Facebook:
First, Microsoft has bought a stake in Facebook’s operation: 1.6% for US$240 million. This investment values Facebook at an astonishing $15 billion. This is a huge coup for 23-year old Zuckerberg who reportedly turned down prior investment offers from the likes of Google and others. Looks like he was right to have done so.
Second, and very closely tied to the first announcement, Facebook has launched a new advertising opportunity on its service called Social Ads which will allow companies to build profiles known as Facebook Pages and have those profiles associated with Facebook members who choose to allow it. The New York Times published a story yesterday questioning the legality of the advertising, and it seems that the user backlash has already begun.
According to Facebook’s corporate blog,
- [users] now have a way to connect with products, businesses, bands, celebrities and more on Facebook.
- Ads should be getting more relevant and more meaningful
- [users] now have the option to share actions [they] take on other sites with [their] friends on Facebook
That last point is both fascinating and frightening at the same time. It’s not unusual for websites to deliver ads based on what’s known as "behavioural targeting". Basically sites that do this analyze which pages of their site the user has been surfing and tries to make each subsequent ad the user sees more and more relevant.
Facebook’s model takes the notion of behavioural targeting a step further by analyzing and associating ads based on surfing, and perhaps more importantly, buying patterns outside of Facebook’s own pages.
This brings us to the question du jour… what do you think of Facebook’s new twist on web ads? Will you "connect" with products or services and let others know what you’re buying elsewhere? How do you feel about your passions and interests being the basis for ads that your friends see when they interact with you on Facebook?
Ok, So I'm a fifteen year old girl.
I'm addicted to facebook, yes, and I know it.
I honestly don't care about the advertisement.
I don't notice it, even if I do, I don't click on it.
I don't care. I'm not going to change what I buy by what I see on facebook.
Sorry,
I'm not that stupid and naive.
Good question!!!! Will Facebook pay users for the ads they display on thier profile????????
I love facebook for what it is…a way to connect with friends in a new and exciting way everyday. You make it your own and do whatever you want with it. It's all about relationship to me!
I am just grateful that someone had the brains to create such a thing. And like all things in life I just hope for everything in moderation.
Keep on keeping on facebook!
Face book was having absolutely no trouble making money long before this decision came along. They're gonna end up digging themselves into a hole. I was never really impressed with the site anyway, hardly ever use it, but it's definitely just a trend and it will disappear like all the others… especially now.
Why is it that 80% of Myspace Users migrated to facebook….because Myspace sold out to a corporation just like facebook is begining to. Until wwe realize that anything on the net or in media for that matter gets popular, we will always have ads targeted towards us. So if anyone want to put ads on my facebook page and pay me based on my # of friends……Where do I sign up
I joined Facebook after listening to my daughters talking about it. I find it a great way to keep in touch with family and friends that I don't see for awhile. I'm working away from home for 6 weeks at a time and it keeps me in touch with new friends also that I meet at work. As for the advertising I look at what I want to and if I don't want to look I don't click on it. All these free sites have to be upgrading their servers and how do you think they can do it without money and expertize. Get real and enjoy the site…if you don't like it go somewhere else where I'm sure you will find something else to complain about before you leave there…Have a Nice Day
Facebook is free people!! What gives us the right to complain about advertising? We don't pay a penny to use the site, we are not paying customers.
We do not deserve to have an opinion on this matter. Facebook has offered a free service to us and if we like it, we use it. If you don't like it, then don't use it. Just don't forget that it is free.
What's with the first post on this? Are you trying to compair Facebook to Nazis? Oh ya, a group of people kill 6,000,000 Jewish people and 11,000,000 people in total. Lets compair them to a group of people that offers a free service to the entire world but does some advertising. They give you a service a free for free and you call them Nazis? They should kick your ass off facebook.
Time for a reality check people. When something is free, don't bitch about it. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
wait…so peopel can accept if they want to be friends with teh company, you ll just be offered to be their friend if you fit certain description, what you can t click on "decline" are you poeple here ocmplaining for real? like most have said if you don t liek it de-activate, its not that hard..
Applications are already full of it in facebook that clutters up the whole page (when those who are into them). Only 30% will keep their page clean. What happened to simplicity? Lastly, I thought Facebook was about connecting people…now with Ads?…seriosuly, this sounds a little too much corporate now ever since Microsoft took a piece of the pizza.
I'm not down with this idea of Ads, maybe for those who's addicted to Facebook so much that they will just add those Ads as a friend. Therefore, they can brag how many friends they have in their profile. One of those would probably say: "Oooohh…yeah..I have 600 friends in my facebook profile…nah-nah-nah..boo..boo".
hey msn, i am usually very happy with the setup of your website, but this particular page with its green background and black font, along with its electric blue website titles is giving me a headache when i read it. whats going on? you guys are supposed to be professionals
mcroberst
Facebook is horrible… if you people want to stay connected there's something called a phone OH YEAH and MSN Messenger… Facebook had become a childish recreational activity. I admit, the concept of connecting to long lost friends is great… but lets be real, if you guys need facebook to stay connected then what kind of friendship is it.
Facebook's basically immature, highschool & elementary school kids have it. People advertise themselves with half naked pictures as if it were a dating site. Regardless of the ads, Facebooks a waste of time.
If you want to stay connected to friends… sell your computer & buy a phone.
Hey to Lisa .. Good suggestion … but I'll make sure you get the long distance and international phone bill ok ?? oh and you can set up times that I can msg ppl on my MSN .. so that we can ALL talk conveinently.
I have about 200 ppl I talk to regularly from all over the world on MSN .. On another note…
Ads are apart of society whether you or I like it or not. Everyone wants everyone else to see their product… FACT OF LIFE AND SOCIETY !!
Dating game .. yah .. guess what .. The Internet .. is used to find what ppl cant find in real life…
Hmmm Highschool Drama and immature kids .. That also is a fact of life .. and ppl grow out if it .. sooner or later .. obviously you havnt .. But MySpace and Facebook and Nxopia arnt going anywhere.
Reguardless of whether you want it to stay or leave …
So maybe next time before you decide to say something dumb like these sites and messengers are dumb and waste of time .. Just dont … its a waste of your time …
oh come on grow up all of you if you don't like it get off, everyone is so afraid of change and not even waiting to see how the change will affect them or not.I am 57 years old and love it l can contact my kids that live far away , cheaper than the phone bills and see what they are doing on their status all day long or they can say on status call me mom too…it is great and a few advertising for free service stop bitching everyone life is too short. You are promised today but not promised tomorrow so just enjoy today….
Why would Facebook pay to have ads displayed on your profile? Do TV advertisers pay you to watch their ads on TV?
hi
facebook is getting stupid and very stupid, they wont have anyone on there if we de activate and proper thing, facebook reveals too much what people are doing and ur in everyones business especially with the feeds u get first when u sign in, dont fall and make them rich de-activate
ha. does anyone remember myspace? facebook is not forever, it's just temporary. i think these ads will prematurely end the lifespan of facebook.
I never did like facebook, I had a friend send an invite once and checked it out. I found that once I opened an account that I recieved too much crap, wall paper ect. I also think that there is a deanger in having all your friends and family on this site people and see all your business. More advertising I don't need, I refuise to watch T.V. because of it why would I log on to a site that will bombard me with even more capitalist crap. I have everything I need to get along, thanks much. I still prefer MSN and I can control what I want on that net site.
Advertising is an unfortunate and essential need in the web development industry. Server space, development, and resources cost alot of money. Even the software used to code the PHP for facebook costs money, unless you expect them to code using notepad. I think people are overreacting with this advertising thing, its not a big deal, The entirety of the internet has advertising, even videogames now. Why do people take this as a new thing? Its always going to be appart of our lives, its sadly part of our culture.
I really don't care if they post ads on Facebook. I never use it. Never have. Never will. Have no interest in setting up an account there. And from everything I've read about it, I made the right decision.
despite what we might believe, facebook was designed for one thing, and one thing only: to make money through advertising!