The 'New Era of Advertising' For Those Who Don't Like Advertising

There has been some buzz about advertising in the context of MySpace.com and Facebook - the buzz coming mainly from people who are interested in making more money through advertising. Granted, many of these people do seem to believe that the only way to make more money through advertising is to involve consumers - but then, how do consumers benefit? Better, how do people benefit?

In Facebook Declares New Era for Advertising, Rob Hof discusses some of the issues of the new advertising as he sees them:

...I can certainly see the appeal of moving advertising to a more social realm in which people who genuinely like a product can, almost passively, serve as brand ambassadors. I mean, look at the millions upon millions of branded T-shirts people wear, turning themselves into human billboards.

I'm not yet convinced that such social ads are the entire future of advertising (though perhaps it's unfair to ascribe such views to Facebook strictly from an event that, after all, is intended to whip up enthusiasm over the new system). I wonder if there will be diminishing returns if Facebook members' news feeds end up resembling movies full of paid placements. Any of my "friends" who post too many status updates that look like spam are going to get unfriended in a hurry. Or if they all end up doing it too much, I might go to the trouble of using another social Web service...

The User Standpoint

Exactly. But here's what I wonder: How do users get anything back from the wanton sale of their interests? In the context of weblogs and so forth, Google Ads and affiliate links allow individual and small business publishers income. Using Facebook does not allow for this directly; there are tools of dubious value but there is no reward for having varied interests or even a niche of interests other than having focused advertising? So if I write consistently about McDonalds, will I be inundated with McDonalds advertising? Will I have a fast food smorgasbord appear on Facebook whenever I login? And what if I am actually on a diet and want nothing to do with fast food? That is one example of many.

And what of privacy? Do I really need another private company reporting to governments what I am looking at? In The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age, Daniel Solove writes about how this information is collected and used - and used in ways which are not always considered by users when they give up their information.

No, I do not applaud this 'new era of advertising'. I eye it warily.

If you have are going to sell my interests to advertisers, I must ask what I will get in return - and if your only answer is 'focused advertising', expect me to leave the negotiation table. That this hasn't even been discussed with those of the leeched likes and dislikes seems rather disgusting, actually.