Facebook is nearing the final stages of development for a new system that would track its users’ movements through the Internet in order to deliver highly targeted ads to them on their social networking site.
The practice of ‘behavioural targeting’ is used by many enterprises and largely acceptable/tolerated but this move by Facebook could invoke fresh outcry over the fast diminishing privacy of Internet users worldwide.
Facebook plans to implement the system with the launching of another content-sharing button for websites to add to their pages, alongside the likes of the Twitter Retweet, Digg , Delicious , etc. The Facebook button lets users ‘like’ content which is how it is shared among their circle of Facebook friends and, more importantly, how Facebook plans to gather the dirt needed to build a profile on you to for the purpose of better targeted advertising.
The official unveiling is likely to be made later this week at Facebook’s annual F8 conference in San Francisco. This is a new tactic for Facebook which, until now, has targeted ads based only on the personal information in a user’s profile. Facebook has already implemented this system throughout its Fan Pages – instead of being able to ‘become a ‘fan’ of a brand you have the option say ‘I like’ it instead.
This move makes one think back to 2007 when Facebook attempted to implement its "Beacon" advertising system which exposed information regarding users’ purchases to their friends. It was not well received; the backlash that followed forced a hastily added ‘opt-in’ option to the service.
On one hand the ’like’ button is an extension of everybody’s favourite social network site to the wider web, on the other it’s a further incursion into users’ privacy through social media to make more money. Many aren’t convinced it’s going to go down well, those on the top floor at Facebook obviously think otherwise. How the Facebook community is going to receive the news is anything but easy to predict but will be very interesting to watch.
Tags: Delicious, Digg, facebook, online advertising, social media, Twitter
About the author: Gerard Harris
SEO Manager – Gerard HarrisGerard is the SEO Manager of one of 4Ps Marketing’s search engine optimisation teams. He manages a team of 4 and a portfolio of 15 SEO clients. His day to day work involves managing client relationships to make sure they are getting the best ranking positions in search engines, leading to increases in relevant traffic to client websites.