Facebook advertising

Everyone in New York this week was buzzed about the new Facebook social ads announcement.
There is a lot to digest here, and it seems like an interesting way to evolve how brands use social media.
But we need to think how consumers are going to view this;
- if brands add to the clutter and make the sites harder to use we'll lose out.
- if consumers believe we're exploiting their data, and support some of the more vociferous privacy advocates we'll lose out.
The excellent Portfolio magazine has a good interview with Mark  Zuckerberg on this and other Facebook  issues. The key quote for me is this;

"There is no opting out of advertising,"

Of course not - to justify that $15 billion valuation, Facebook need a business model - and advertising is the only one in town.

UPDATE - I think this quote from Techcrunch somes it up well

"Whether consumers actually want to become product marketers is another question entirely"

Comments

[jen_chan, writer SureFireWealth.com]

Maybe the trick is making the ads look more friendly. Some ads look too much like ads and merely serve as eyesores. It might also be helpful if they avoid showing up every two clicks of the mouse. Then again, isn't Facebook already in hot water because of the whole university vs. privacy issue?