Posts tagged social ads
Following up on Facebook’s social ads debacle
Dec 3rd
Facebook appear to have given in to pressure over the debacle I wrote about a few days ago. According to their announcement:
Users must click on “OK” in a new initial notification on their Facebook home page before the first Beacon story is published to their friends from each participating site. We recognize that users need to clearly understand Beacon before they first have a story published, and we will continue to refine this approach to give users choice.
That’s definitely progress and will assuage the fears of many users. Unfortunately, as the unofficial facebook blog points out they are still storing data on your shopping preferences, even if they’re not displaying them. You can get around that by changing various settings in your web browser, but there’s no easy way to opt out.
Reactions around the web have been mixed: Some are advocating quitting facebook entirely (or as close to entirely as is possible, you cannot completely delete your account), while others continue to question whether most facebook users are concerned.
I quite like the idea that if facebook are going to use advertising they should target it based on what I’ve told them are my interests and who I’ve identified as my friends. So far, they’re doing a pretty poor job of that as I’ve yet to see an advert on there that interests me, but that’s data I’ve consciously given to them, and it’s my responsibility to moderate that if necessary. The problem is when I may be giving them more data than I realise because of who their partners are. That’s not an entirely new situation for the web —think of all the sites operated by yahoo or google — but so far it’s at least been limited to sites within specific networks.
For those who use facebook socially, it’s well worth considering how much you want facebook (and their investors) to know about you and what measures you can take to limit that if necessary. For those using facebook for promotion it’s well worth considering what your audience’s reaction is likely to be to this situation, to be clear about how you’re using data gathered from facebook, and to think very carefully about these issues before touching the social ads system.
The “Facebook Stole Christmas” debacle
Nov 27th
Having blogged in a way that might have been interpreted as enthusiastic (it came out less cautious than I had intended) about facebook’s social ads system when it was first announced it seems only appropriate to wade into the furore surrounding the actual implementation.
It seems facebook have caused a considerable amount of upset with the way they implemented their system. Technically it’s very interesting, using some clever javascript tricks (as I link blogged last night) to report your activity on various sites back to facebook. But practically it’s far less impressive as you’ll have to really keep on your toes to even notice what is being reported, and there’s no easy way to opt out of having your activity on participating websites reported to your facebook network.
As covered over at Read/Write Web, that’s upset some people so much that headlines like “Facebook Ruined Christmas” have been doing the rounds and MoveOn.org have launched a petition calling for facebook to change the behaviour. I very much support MoveOn’s action; it’s remarkable that facebook and participating sites aren’t offering users a simple and impossible to miss opt-out, and really each and every notification should require your explicit consent. Facebook’s own privacy page (only accessible with a facebook login) states:
Show your friends what you like and what you’re up to outside of Facebook. When you take actions on the sites listed below, you can choose to have those actions sent to your profile.
Please note that these settings only affect notifications on Facebook. You will still be notified on affiliate websites when they send stories to Facebook. You will be able to decline individual stories at that time.
That sounds good, if poorly worded, but not much like the user experience so many are reporting.
I don’t want to go so far as many have and utterly rule out the possibility that this system could be a good thing. I don’t want my wife to see what I’ve bought her for Christmas, but at some future time it might be useful to see that a friend has bought a tool we could occasionally do with use of, or for them to see that I’ve bought a DVD they wanted to see. Or on a more commercial level, I may want my friends to see that I’ve bought a certain CD (or package of MP3s) as I think they should go and buy it too.
The thing that facebook—like any company—must remember is that privacy should always be the default. It’s never an added extra, and certainly shouldn’t be a workaround only available to the technically inclined. As it is, facebook are lucky that this one started up as slowly as it did, and had better fix it before they start alienating that vast audience of theirs.
Facebook’s game changing new ads system
Nov 7th
There have been rumours upon rumours that facebook was going to launch something for musicians soon, and that they were also readying a new advertising system. Today it turned out that not only were they doing both, but both are part of the same strategy.
Announced by Leah Perlman on the Facebook blog, facebook’s new ads system breaks down into two parts:
- “Brands” can now create Facebook Pages, which combine some of the functionality of a personal profile with that of a group. For “brand” you can also read company, artist, campaign, or nearly anything else that might want to advertise.
- “Social Ads” allow Facebook to target ads at people based on their friends’ activities. So if I were to make a certain purchase, mark myself a fan of a band, or rent a given DVD, and facebook knows about it, facebook could tell my friends about that and sell them a related product.
David Emery was quick to write up some thoughts on how this development could impact and help bands. While the immediate option to create a clear presence for something people might be “passionate about” is clearly significant, he’s absolutely right that it’s the “Social Ads” that have the potential to truly change the social advertising game as they leverage data more completely than has been done before. The intrusive possibility of them is potentially quite scary and as clear leaders in the field, we can only hope that facebook are making privacy central to this new approach.
Every band and every campaign really ought to be headed over right now to set up their Facebook Page and ensure they get their preferred name. However functional this turns out to be, it’s highly likely that it’ll be worth the effort. It’s not yet clear how the Social Ads side will work, or what it will cost, but it’s also probably a good idea to start thinking about how you might use it. What might your fans/supporters do that it would be good to tell their friends about? What might make your events or other activities compelling as a social activity? They’re not new questions, but this announcement ought to bring them into new focus.