Invisible Ads on Facebook
I'm looking at my Facebook page right now. There are ads on it, to the far left. Until I had a reason to look for the ads, I basically did not see them or pay attention to them. They've been pretty much invisible to me. The ads are static, tucked away from where your eye moves on the page, and seem incongruous with the reason you're on Facebook, which is to connect with friends.
Worse for advertisers, the ads aren't even close to being targeted. I'm not a college kid. The last two ads I saw on Facebook were for CareerBuilder (a job-hunting site, which, thankfully, is not something I need at the moment) and another for acne medication Proactiv (ditto about thankfully no longer needing).
Anyway, I say all that because there is quite a discussion about the failures of Facebook advertising on the UK's Reach Students blog.
It comes amid lots of discussion about whether -- and why -- Facebook is worth $6 billion. But I suppose the same kinds of questions could've been asked about Google in the days when its search traffic was booming but before it figured out its advertising model.
- Bill G Puts Faith In "Microsoft Innovation"; Rest of Us Wonder if That's an Oxymoron
- May 9 2008 9:28AM EDT
- Jerry: You Wanted Independence, So Back Away From Google Slowly...
- May 8 2008 4:34PM EDT
- Ballmer's Facebook Lust: Like High School?
- May 8 2008 9:41AM EDT
- Meebo CEO and His "Live Web" Strategy
- May 8 2008 7:09AM EDT
- Sprint Deal: Lurching Toward an All-Wireless, Always-Connected Future
- May 7 2008 9:32AM EDT
- Why Isn't There a Corporate Facebook?
- May 7 2008 7:30AM EDT
- Tenacious Rearden Commerce Gets Huge Funding
- May 6 2008 9:15AM EDT
- But Jerry, Really, No Drunk-Dialing Steve Late at Night
- May 6 2008 8:54AM EDT
- ABC News Appearance
- May 6 2008 8:37AM EDT
- What If Microsoft is Completely Pursuing the Wrong Business?
- May 5 2008 1:32PM EDT
- Ballmer Pushed Out? Yeah, Like Bush Will Fire Cheney
- May 5 2008 11:08AM EDT
- Today's Entertainment: Watching the Yahoo Ticker
- May 5 2008 8:57AM EDT
- Ballmer Avoids His AOL-Time Warner; Can't Find His MySpace
- May 4 2008 12:08AM EDT
- Radiohead Figures Out How To Sell 99-cent Song for $4.95 to 2,250 People
- May 2 2008 7:08AM EDT
- Moto-Kodak Cameras? You Bet
- May 1 2008 11:50PM EDT
Archive
May 2008
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