Saturday, December 1, 2007

TMI!!!! (Too Much Information)

Facebook is advertising in a new way which I am sure you have heard because it has been in the news and my peers and I have talked about it in class. Facebook has been advertising to your friends the purchases you have made on other websites like overstock.com and fandango.com. Members have been wanting an easy opt out button for this feature, but facebook doesn’t allow members to do that. Facebook members have been outraged at this feature because it is a complete invasion of privacy. Over 50,000 members have signed a petition for them to stop this advertising feature that facebook has implemented to turn their popularity into profit.

What facebook is doing is using internet tracking to see what you are buying and interested in to than send you adds based on your searches and purchases. Pretty sleazy if you ask me, but also brilliant from a marketing perspective. Problem is, people don’t like this big brother aspect of facebook and don’t want everyone to know what they are searching online, which makes sense.

But get this, I was reading an article about how people were complaining and Mr. Zuckerberg, creator of facebook, said, “Facebook executives say the people who are complaining are a marginal minority. With time, Facebook says, users will accept Beacon, which Facebook views as an extension of the type of book and movie recommendations that members routinely volunteer on their profile pages.” Can I just say he’s a butthead (since I don’t want to use a harsher word.) People shouldn’t have to get used to something they don’t want to. I know many people were upset when the mini feed came out but at least we can change the privacy levels on that. In this article, Facebook, since it has been pressured by protesters, has decided to put up a notification every time you have something that could be shared on facebook, asking whether or not you would like to share it. This should make people happy for a while, but you know there are going to be tons of people, probably even those who protested Beacon, who allow some of their interests and purchase on facebook. People like to share too much information.

2 comments:

Shane said...

I think that Facebook Beacon is going to mess up Facebook. Like you said many people where angry when the newsfeed came out and I was one of them. While it was nice to see what my friends had been up to, sometimes it just gets a little ridiculous. I do not think that people really need to know what other people are buying. This to me is just a way for facebook to make more money and to clutter the site even more. What is going to be next give me your credit card number and let me make purchases for you? What ever happened to the day when the site was so simple.

BlairL84 said...

I also agree. Facebook was awesome when it first came out, and now it's just frustrating to say the least. Why should we have to get used to something that we don't like? Isn't Facebook supposed to be something that makes our lives easier, more interesting, and keeps us connected with people? I just don't understand why they keep adding all this stuff to Facebook that in the end just irritates users, shouldn't things be done to benefit users and make them like Facebook more?