The day of reckoning for Facebook may be near at hand. Once again they have crossed over a line – an important one. Just think of how much money the estates of Marilyn Monroe and other deceased celebrities have made from use of their image and etc. and now think about how a Facebook user receives no monetary compensation for an advertiser’s use of his/her material.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook users who check in to a store or click the “like” button for a brand may soon find those actions retransmitted on their friends’ pages as a “Sponsored Story” paid for by advertisers.
Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.
Facebook says this lets advertisers promote word-of-mouth recommendations that people already made on the site. They play up things people do on the site that might get lost in the mass of links, photos, status updates and other content users share on the world’s largest social network.
The new, promoted posts would keep the same privacy setting that the original posting had. So if you limit your check-ins to a specific group of friends, only these same friends would see the “Sponsored Story” version later.
The promoted content will appear on the right side of users’ home pages, not in their main news feed. That’s where regular ads, friend requests and other content are located.
Involving users in advertisements without their consent has been a thorny issue for Facebook. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in this case the company is making money off a person’s name or likeness without their consent. He calls it “subtle and misleading” and says users should object.
Twitter already offers advertisers something similar, called “promoted tweets.” These are Twitter posts paid for by advertisers to show up in search results and on top of popular topic lists on the site. But while Twitter’s ads are written by the companies that pay for them, Facebook’s sponsored stories are created by users.
Both represent an effort to make advertisements more akin to what people are already experiencing on the site instead of putting up virtual billboards that users might ignore or find tacky [yahoo via Drudge]
samiam60
January 27, 2011
Thank you for the heads up SamHenry. I cleared that all out of my facebook. Sneaky they are.
samiam60
January 27, 2011
Today, the New FB Privacy setting called “Instant Personalization” goes into effect, sharing your data with non-Facebook websites & it is automatically set to “Enabled”. Go to Account>Privacy Settings>Apps & Websites>Instant Personalization>edit settings & uncheck “Enable”. BTW: If your friends don’t do this, they will be sharing info about you as well.
samhenry
January 27, 2011
Sami – Please post this comment at your blog.
arlenearmy
January 27, 2011
I’m seriously considering shutting down my Facebook. I know most of my family members closed out their accounts.
I don’t even use facebook that much b/c of reasons stated in this post. The only reason why I used it was because a man who was running for US congress in our district used facebook.
samhenry
January 28, 2011
Arlene – I am having these same thoughts. They have made it like honey for bees. They want you to feel as if you will be missing something. In most instances, they have created a need. I’ll just bet there are other ways of keeping up with many friends and we will all find a way. I think I will give it up. Good to see you on this cccold night here.
DarcsFalcon
January 29, 2011
I posted a link to this on my blog too. That FB is too big for it’s britches.
samhenry
January 29, 2011
We need to keep on their case.
A prison has emptied an hour outside Cairo. People are frightened because the police have left the streets. Over 1,000 prisoners escaped. It is an example of the degree of chaos there.