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November 07, 2007
Steal Your Face: Facebook using friends as hucksters
Check out the the last three words in the subhead of Catherine Holahan's Business Week online story and you'll learn all you need to know: no opt out from your friend's ad feed.
BW: Facebook: Marketers Are Your 'Friends'
The social network's new ad system delivers everything you say, do, and buy to marketers--with no opt out Excerpt: Facebook's Zuckerberg doesn't appear to be anticipating a backlash. The company hasn't even provided a way for users to opt out of the Social Ad feeds, though Zuckerberg says the company will watch users' reactions.
From Louise Story's piece in the New York Times: Facebook Is Marketing Your Brand Preferences (With Your Permission) Facebook users will not be able to avoid these personally recommended ads if they are friends with participating people. Participation can involve joining a fan club for a brand, recommending a product or sharing information about their purchases from external Web sites. So, right now, you have a choice whether to become a huckster, but your friends don't have a choice whether to receive your ads. What about tomorrow? As the Times concludes: Some privacy experts applauded Facebook for letting people choose whether or not to make product recommendations. But they also expressed concern that Facebook might one day change its policy of not sharing data with marketers. "That's been one of the historical problems in this field -- the shifting promises," said Chris Hoofnagle, a senior lawyer at the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at the University of California in Berkeley.
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at November 7, 2007 06:17 AM
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