Facebook.com is reportedly working on a system that allows advertisers to target users not just on basic demographic information like gender, age, and location, but also based on preferences, interests and other information in their personal Facebook pages.
Taking the approach one step further, the system would also allow what might be called peer pressure advertising, targeted advertising based upon information about a user’s friends and connections in the social network. The possibilities are intriguing. Imagine the millions of boys (of all ages) who will be defenseless against ads calculated by examing the preferences, wishes and desires of their female friends.
It will be interesting to see whether users accept this level of data mining, or will they perceive it as a violation of their social contract with their social network host? It is a risky and perhaps ill-conceived strategy. One aspect of the stickiness of social networks is that when users decide to leave, they tend to leave together. They take their friends with them.
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