The Real World Finally Discovers Facebook Advertising Strategy, Gets Disproportionately Frazzled

7:04 Sep 20th, 2009 | 1 note

If you have any idea about how Facebook works, you’ll won’t be surprised to hear that the popular social network uses targeted advertising. If you don’t know how Facebook works, you may notice that the ads that appear down the right hand side of the site are eerily relevant to you. For example, if you’ve just changed your relationship status to “Recently Engaged”, you’ll start seeing ads for wedding planners, wedding dresses etc. If you’re a teenager who has “Twilight” in your favorite movies list, you’ll see ads for Facebook vampire games.

These ads are eerily relevant to you because advertisers buy ads that are displayed based the information you have on Facebook. This isn’t a new thing for Facebook, but for the rest of the market, such vigorous and pinpointed advertisements are. And so we have this article from the Sydney Daily Telegraph, which has recently discovered Facebook advertising. As expected, the tabloid publication immediately jumps into its default writing style in an attempt to “warn the public”: moral outrage and righteous indignation.

Naturally, the article screams “privacy invasion!”, thinking that Facebook has implemented this advertising scheme while wearing dark glasses, a large hat and a full length trench coat. But in actual fact, Facebook is known for having quite obvious terms of service and advertising guidelines. But the problem the Telegraph has is not with the implementation, but with the concept of target advertising. Let’s put into perspective just how silly the whole argument is.

You’re information isn’t being sold around the internet to shady dealers. Facebook doesn’t hand out your profile for advertisers to sift through looking for the right people to give ads too. Ads are filtered through based on basic information: Age, location, gender, relationship status, displayed interests etc. While you may initially freak out, step back and think about it first. Advertisers aren’t going to be able to use anything against you by knowing you’re 17, live in Sydney, are a single, white Male who likes Twilight. If you haven’t realized, your insurance company, your bank, your government and your employer know this (ok maybe not the Twilight bit). Heck, your insurance company and bank know way more than Facebook does! But unlike your insurance company, Facebook has no other purpose other than making sure your personal information is secure. After all, your personal information is their core business. They aren’t going to do anything to threaten that.

Another thing people have to realize before panicking that their privacy has been violated is that they already receive targeted ads. When you buy Woman’s Weekly, you don’t see ads for home hardware products, you see ads for makeup and clothes. Just like when you buy Twilight Magazine you don’t see ads for the Da Vinci Code (okay so I lied about buying a Twilight magazine, I honestly don’t). You’re receiving target ads all the time (from Google for example), you just don’t realize it because it’s not so obvious. Facebook is extending targeted ads into the 21st century with the more precise personal information that magazines never had.

Finally, you agreed to this. None of this farce of a situation would have come up if people had just read Facebook’s terms of service instead of blindly clicking ‘accept’ when signing up. You agreed for your information to be sold, you agreed to be advertised to. You have absolutely no ground to stand on when you say “I’m there to socialize with friends, not to make money for other people” because you’re not, you are there to make people money, you’re there to make Facebook money. They’re a business, not your buddy. It’s what you agreed to remember?

To all of you paranoid privacy people, I have a suggestion. If you want your information to be private, get off the internet. The most fundamental rule of the internet is that nothing is ever completely deleted. Your information is always on a server somewhere, sitting there, whether you like it or not. Facebook keeps all of your information even when you’ve ‘deleted’ it, and your account can never be deleted. All of that information is a sitting duck, there for the taking should someone successfully hack into Facebook and steal everything. You won’t be complaining about ads when thieves and hackers have your details will you? If you were so concerned about privacy, you would never had joined Facebook in the first place.

So, go and complain, go and rant, go and change the world of Facebook. Heck, you’ve already made a Facebook group in protest over Facebook’s advertising: “People Against Intrusive Advertising on Facebook”. That’s a bold, decisive statement about how serious your plight is, right? Let me know when you’ve beaten capitalism. God knows you’re going about in the most logical manner ever conceived.