Facebook to launch SocialAds ad network

[mandy]

Just as Google is preparing to take Facebook head-on with its own social-networking platform, it appears that Facebook is preparing to take on Google with its own social ad network...

SocialAds will be an attempt to be like Google’s AdSense, except that it will allow ads to be targeted to Facebook members’ individual interests and profile data rather than the text on a given Web page...

It remains to be seen whether targeting ads based on people’s self-expressed interests and demographics will result in better response rates than contextual ads like AdSense or search ads based on the specific intent of what people are looking for at that very second...

full article: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/30/fac...ow-so-far/

[BellisimaJ.]

It remains to be seen whether targeting ads based on people’s self-expressed interests and demographics will result in better response rates than contextual ads like AdSense or search ads based on the specific intent of what people are looking for at that very second...

It just might work better. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[mandy]

A related article: the backlash

Within hours of Facebook’s announcement of its social advertising plans, the backlash began. What about privacy? What about relevance? (I know everyone is sick of hearing about Facebook, but there are some important business issues at stake here, so bear with me). As far as privacy goes, there is none on Facebook, in that any information you share is fair game for targeting by advertisers. So get used to it. You don’t want to be targeted, don’t share information on Facebook. Perhaps the more important question, though, is around the relevance of the ads themselves...

full article: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/07/the...sh-begins/

[mandy]

NYT says Facebook's ads may be illegal in New York State:

Mark Zuckerberg promised no less than a revolution with his idea that ads you see on Facebook will be attached to the names and photos of your friends who like the products being advertised.

There is at least one problem with this idea: It may be illegal under a 100-year-old New York privacy law. The statute says that “any person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained” can sue for damages. Moreover, such a use is also a criminal misdemeanor...

full article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/08...1352264400&en=c7c1eccfb23fee54&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

more analysis:

First of all, as the Wired blog Epicenter notes, one reason this may well backfire is that many will see this as an onslaught of “lots and lots of product-pushing app spam” — even though the ads are nominally triggered by friends.

Not only is it spammy for the recipients, but it’s privacy-invasive for the Facebook user — even for the social-network butterfly who generally shares lots and lots of information...

full article: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/200...ocial-ads/