Facebook Hatches More Ads
Shall we talk about Facebook?
What, again? Well, yes. What on earth has FB been up to this time?
It was only a matter of time before all the data mining would start to pay off - or pay back - or punish - all of us, the users, who so willingly gave up so much information about ourselves, day after day after day.
We started with our profiles. And here FB used some wonderful social engineering, encouraging us to "complete" our profiles, and share our likes and favorites in movies, locations, books, music.
We "liked" various businesses in town, especially if our friends (owners and patrons of those businesses) suggested we do so.
We happily clicked on links that told them all they needed to know about what interested us - and when we shared it, we provided still deeper insights into our personalities and habits.
What else might have been happening in the background (seems I've written this before!) in terms of shared data we can only guess, but if this data was matched up with our buying habits on other sites, then we had clearly presented a 3D virtual version of ourselves.
So not too long ago, we began to see the ads not just off to the side, innocuously attracting our interest if we were really shopping for something, or glad to know when our favorite band released a new album. Now the ads were inline - that is, in the middle of our news feed from friends. At first I was quite annoyed by this, but like all ads I quickly adjusted, mentally sorting out the ones that were of little interest and paying a bit of attention to the ones that matched my trending pursuits.
Then they popped up in video version - autoplaying, no less! Now I acknowledge, I've only seen one, possibly two, so the promise that there would not be many is accurate. I've seen so few I wasn't even sure if I'd seen correctly, but information assures me that it wasn't s fluke.
The latest thing I've noticed is "related" information. I took one of those silly quizzes today - "Which state should you have been born in" or something similar. A friend got Iowa. Listed under her announcement was music featuring the name, "Iowa" or nearby states. It's an odd association, but - and, as the saying goes - it's a Big But(t) - it did make me pay attention! And I can see where it might even have made me click to listen if it had happened to be a song I really liked. And who knows where it would have gone from there?
Facebook is really just in the nymph stage of where it may end up in terms of advertising. It might turn into a friendly little cricket, chirping happily on the hearth and providing useful and timely information. Or it could turn into a big, ugly bug, ruining the picnic. We'll see.
What, again? Well, yes. What on earth has FB been up to this time?
It was only a matter of time before all the data mining would start to pay off - or pay back - or punish - all of us, the users, who so willingly gave up so much information about ourselves, day after day after day.
We started with our profiles. And here FB used some wonderful social engineering, encouraging us to "complete" our profiles, and share our likes and favorites in movies, locations, books, music.
We "liked" various businesses in town, especially if our friends (owners and patrons of those businesses) suggested we do so.
We happily clicked on links that told them all they needed to know about what interested us - and when we shared it, we provided still deeper insights into our personalities and habits.
What else might have been happening in the background (seems I've written this before!) in terms of shared data we can only guess, but if this data was matched up with our buying habits on other sites, then we had clearly presented a 3D virtual version of ourselves.
So not too long ago, we began to see the ads not just off to the side, innocuously attracting our interest if we were really shopping for something, or glad to know when our favorite band released a new album. Now the ads were inline - that is, in the middle of our news feed from friends. At first I was quite annoyed by this, but like all ads I quickly adjusted, mentally sorting out the ones that were of little interest and paying a bit of attention to the ones that matched my trending pursuits.
Then they popped up in video version - autoplaying, no less! Now I acknowledge, I've only seen one, possibly two, so the promise that there would not be many is accurate. I've seen so few I wasn't even sure if I'd seen correctly, but information assures me that it wasn't s fluke.
The latest thing I've noticed is "related" information. I took one of those silly quizzes today - "Which state should you have been born in" or something similar. A friend got Iowa. Listed under her announcement was music featuring the name, "Iowa" or nearby states. It's an odd association, but - and, as the saying goes - it's a Big But(t) - it did make me pay attention! And I can see where it might even have made me click to listen if it had happened to be a song I really liked. And who knows where it would have gone from there?
Facebook is really just in the nymph stage of where it may end up in terms of advertising. It might turn into a friendly little cricket, chirping happily on the hearth and providing useful and timely information. Or it could turn into a big, ugly bug, ruining the picnic. We'll see.
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