Facebook is facing some "friends" backlash. The social ad platform is getting some criticism around its consumer privacy or the lack of protection of consumers personal info / actions. Here are some thoughts:
- consumer privacy is a perception; if consumers feel you are violating their privacy, you are... regardless whether you are from a legal point of view or from a "privacy policy" point of view.
- all ads will be digital and targeted soon; that means that all marketing messages will be delivered through IP-based networks and ad-servers AND they will all be targeted whether the targeting is based on context, geo, behaviors, inferred demographics based on OS / browser / ...
- online marketers appear to be held to a higher standard than direct mailers, list management companies, direct marketing specialists. I am all in favor of clarifying standards but let's be fair and apply the same standards to the entire industry... not just the online guys because they are new or have less presence on Capitol Hill
- consumers need to be more educated about how targeting works and how personal information can be used to taylor marketing messages.
Ultimately, online advertising is still a nascent industry and we are all trying new formats, new technologies and new ways to grab a bit of the consumers attention. Facebook social ad platform is very interesting because it leverages the social graph and the natural / human tendency that humans have to share their likes and dislikes with their friends. Whether the beacon should be opt-in or opt-out is secondary compared to the innovation that Facebook is bringing to the marketplace. I trust that Facebook will listen to its users and adjust its social ad platform accordingly.
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