I was expecting this after stories this last week about Facebook’s plans to introduce contextual advertising was rumoured all over the blogOsphere. But this little dirty trick I was not expecting. It seems Facebook has shown it’s cards.
The advertising is here and it ain’t pretty. No it is not on the sidebar, no it is not flashing scripts and no it is not a pop-up. It is cleverly disguised in your News Feed! I appreciate that online businesses need advertising to generate revenue, or at least some type of business model. But this stinks and falls into the same category as Google’s deceptive “Sponsored Links” in searches.
The advertising that appears on Facebook looks no different to any other News Feed item other than it has a very discrete “sponsored” tag after the ad. The word is a different colour and blends in very well to white. Don’t blink you will miss it.
This is yet another bullshit attempt into tricking users to click links to generate click-through’s! When I clicked the link I was taken to an external site for what looks to be a band or concert or something of that nature. So much for contextual, the closest that I get to music in any of my interests or profile is the LastFM application!
I have not edited this image other than to add the red box and arrow
If advertising was any good and indeed contextual then they would have obvious ads on my pages that I actually wanted to click on! They would not have to fight for my attention they would get it willingly and I just might purchase what is on offer. The conversion rate for Facebook would be better and I would not be pissed off!
When will these companies learn that you can not piss off your users or make them feel that they are being tricked or manipulated?
Unfortunately though Facebook will get their money because of the disguised ads in this context. There are enough Facebook users out there that won’t know any better. But I do and I am not clicking on any of them.
My advice: move on mass and don’t click these deceptive ads in your News Feed.
Dave
Make sure you Check out the Latest Global Geek Podcast
Subscribe to TPN :: The Global Geek Podcast by Email
Like this article? Click “Recommend” to let others know your interest.
Click "Tool Box"-> "Save" to add this article as your favourite.