Beacon, a social ads broadcasting system launched by FaceBook in November of 2007,  was shut down last week due to a settlement in a class action lawsuit filed in August of 2008. Beacon was designed to broadcast purchases made by FaceBook users to friends, thus creating an “endorsement” of a product.

As part of the settlement, FaceBook will be creating a foundation whose aim is to promote online privacy, safety and security.

For the full story click here.  (PC World article)

Brazilian consumers spend an average of 19.3 hours online for personal use versus 9.8 hours watching TV, according to a study released by Deloitte. According to Internet World Stats, sixty-seven million Brazilians now have internet access, which is approximately 34 percent of the population. A large number of Brazilians access the Internet from Internet Cafes and online gaming cafes, and they are also more likely to use Social Networks and Blogs than the average global Internet user.

Brazilians are also incredibly community oriented, so Social Networking caught on fairly quick in Brazil because of its relevance to their everyday life. Although Brazilians are some of the most outgoing people, they are quite cautious when meeting others and inviting them into their inner circle.

With an abundance of web activity on social networks in Brazil, it’s not hard to see the advertising potential for companies that know how to engage the audience successfully. It is not enough to simply target Brazilian consumers where they spend their time online. Because Brazilians are engagers who strongly believe in community, it is also important to create a platform that is interactive and encourages two-way asymmetrical communication, which ties into key elements of their culture. A simple display ad would not work, particularly in the realm of social media.

Amanaiê, the Brazilian leader in creating social ads — product-based apps that work inside social sites such as Orkut, seems to have found a formula that works.  The Sao-Paulo based startup has already worked with some major market players such as Yahoo! Brazil and Universe Online, the country’s top internet portal.

Amanaiê founder Gilberto Junior describes the concept:

Gilberto Junior

“We address the problem of the lack of relevance in display advertising. We believe advertising can be more engaging and it can be where people already are, instead of trying to take them out of there and lead them to some kind of advertising website. “

The Orkut apps drive traffic for the portals.

Bolao BBB9, an application designed for fans of the  popular Big Brother Brazil reality television show, was created to run on Orkut, Brazil’s most popular social network. The application displays each week’s remaining contestants and engages the user by allowing them to guess the winner and loser in advance. They can then compare their answers with those of other players on Orkut. Users are ranked by their cumulative scores. The application also features photos and news about the contestants for fans.

This case was successful because it:

• Understood the target audience’s motivation for using the tool.
• Empowered the target audience through engagement.
• Kept the target audience in their community, without prompting them to go to another site
• Reached the target audience in a familiar environment (a community where they were surrounded by virtual  family and friends)

Gilberto continues:

“Digital advertising is changing. Digital display ads are working less and [becoming] less relevant over time. The new digital media is that one that engages the costumer —The advertising that is so relevant that the user wants to install it on their public personal profile on a social network.”

After all, Facebook apps summed are making more money than Facebook itself.

Brazil is the 12th-largest economy in the world, the seventh country in Internet usage, the largest country in Latin America and the world’s fifth-most populous country with 182 million people.
Acc ording to a 2006 DM News article, In fact, Wikipedia contains an official definition of Brazil’s voracious appetite for foreign online apps—The Brazilian Internet Phenomenon.

As our world rapidly transitions from freely-shared information to freely-shared contextual information, the concept of social knowledge has become an increasingly critical function of market intelligence—but more so in Brail than any other global marketplace we’ve explored.

In Brazil, the need for using strategic social media tools to identify gaps in understanding as they relate to the confluence of local culture and web 2.0 is made especially critical by the rare combination of several important factors like religion, political censorship; a pervasive and powerful underworld of organized crime; and the stark juxtaposition of wealth and misery that comprises the offline backdrop for this dynamic and uncertain digital terrain.

The acquisition of social knowledge is an ongoing process that includes a range of adopted behaviors like listening and embracing influencers; and the absence of a clearly defined return on investment. The key for marketers to remember in Brazil is that due diligence must override the compulsion to rush to market—no matter the digital medium, product or service. The complex and dynamic nature of Brazil’s inherent challenges require a period of listening to determine the most effective and appropriate tools, strategies and tactics.

In Brazil, social networking site, Orkut is essential for monitoring the cultural sensibilities of online conversation.
Orkut is the #1 website in Brazil
and enjoys a 79% market share and is 8th in the world.

Additionally, Twitter’s microblogging platform and bloggers like Marcello Tas. lead in effectively monitoring and engaging influencers to interact with their brand. Even citizen journalism sites like Rio Body Count and Violencia are abuzz with citizens documenting the massive injustice of Brazil’s ruling criminal class and corrupt government.

A June 2009 VentureBeat blog Reports Brazilian consumers spend an average of 19.3 hours online for personal use versus 9.8 hours watching TV, according to a study released by Deloitte.

With such an enormous and highly engaged audience, Brazil’s digital media landscape provides an endless opportunity to market using social ads— product-based apps that work inside social sites. This advertising while virtually brand new in Brazil, is so relevant that the user wants to install it on their public personal profile on a social network.

There are also promising opportunities to cash in on Orkut apps that drive traffic to your portals using features and titles of news and content, linking to the content . However, it must all begin by listening. A thorough and ongoing listening campaign is critical to addressing the lack of relevance in display advertising that could cost valuable market share for your brand–especially in a market ripe with such a plethora of multilateral marketing and communications challenges like Brazil.

eMarketer projects that US marketers will increase their social network ad spending 13.2% in 2010, to $1.3 billion.

“The expected rebound in spending will come as more companies focus on creating and implementing an overall social marketing strategy,” says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Social Network Ad Spending: A Brighter Outlook Next Year. “And it is a clear indication that the experimental phase of social network marketing is finally drawing to an end.”

2009 is turning into a year of major shifts in the social network business.

“Facebook, once a distant second to MySpace, has outperformed its rival in nearly every measure of usage—and is on track to surpass MySpace in ad spending by 2011,” says Ms. Williamson.

US spending at MySpace is expected to fall 15% in 2009, to $495 million, while US spending at Facebook is projected to rise 9%, to $230 million. Consequently, MySpace’s share of US spending is projected to fall to 43.4% in 2009, while Facebook and other social network venues will increase their share.

While the US accounts for the majority of ad spending on MySpace and Facebook, non-US spending is growing rapidly at Facebook. eMarketer estimates that marketers will spend a total of $520 million to advertise on MySpace worldwide in 2009, down 14% from 2008. Worldwide spending on Facebook, by contrast, is expected to grow 20%, to $300 million, in 2009.

How will YOU monetize your website in 2010?

There was a great article today on ReadWriteWeb about Google AdSense, in fact hinting at its eventual demise (with caveats of course). I quite agree with many of the points made, but ultimately not with the conclusion.

Here are the biggest points in an argument, in my opinion.

1. AdSense is the Best ‘Easy, No-Fuss’ Monetization Solution

AdSense is still by far the easiest way for small publishers to quickly and easily make money from their websites. Slapping AdSense ads on a site is very easy to implement and manage, and remains a good option for many blogs, small e-commerce sites, and social media properties with any “space” on pages (or in widgets, for that matter, an emerging kind of business). An easy, no-brainer option allows website owners to focus on content and not building monetization teams. The sheer volume of advertisers and publishers already participating in AdWords and AdSense creates a very liquid market with strong network effects that will continue to drive competitive performance vis-à-vis other options. But again, it is already here, is the de-facto solution, and is most importantly, EASY.

2. Google’s Monopoly is Really Swell, for Google

The irony is that while publishers love access to all the advertisers in one place and a team of PhD’s optimizing the ad relevancy, AdSense is also a monopoly with a black box solution to determine relevancy and pricing, with Google in control of the levers. Fraud is prevalent in the long tail of publishers, but Google ultimately determines what is and isn’t fraud, and the monetary outcome. Google also controls the rev split with publishers. Google is the judge of how good a partner you are, and then hands down the ruling about what the rev share will be. Yes, it’s quite easy to get started with AdSense and start getting a check every month, but it’s not as fun for those web businesses that take a moment to consider if they are getting their fair share of the monetization.

The result? The best Publishers are likeliest to consider testing other ad networks or bringing inventory selling “in-house” and increase margins with new ad networks, guaranteed ad blocks, and sponsorships. In the grand scheme, this is a continuous cycle though as new websites will always emerge, some will get larger and more sophisticated, etc. Impact on AdSense? Neutral.

3. No Lock-In and New Substitutes Increasingly Available

In the words of Rod Tidwell, the self-preservationist wide receiver in the movie Jerry Maguire, “Just show me the money”. This really, truly is the axiom of most publishers. There isn’t much loyalty in this business and switching costs are really pretty low, so publishers and advertisers can and will test substitutes and are often encouraged to continually test in this industry. As new options emerge, such as the recent spike in ad networks and ad exchanges, and more recently social ads, we are very likely to see behavioral changes by all of the players: users, publishers, and advertisers. As the quality and volume of banners, rich media and video ads rises, text ads will appear increasingly OLD and unpleasant. Both publishers and advertisers will test tools that make it easier to create and run banner, rich media and video ads, as well as new forms of targeting.

While this is true that new substitutes will continually arise and clamor for attention, the fact of the matter is – and Yahoo! can attest to this – getting a publisher to rip out old tags and implement new ones is no easy task, particularly when there is only a promise of increased performance, but no clear evidence that it will apply to my business, or if so how much and for how long. While it is not terribly difficult for smaller publishers to switch, it IS difficult to convince one to switch, and the larger the publisher the more work replacing the tags is.

4. Only the tip of the Branding Iceberg is online

What many people overlook is the potential impact we might see as the HUGE amount of branding budget ($Billions) still used offline slowly begins to flow online. Since brand advertising is less measurable and because branding substitutes are so expensive, there is quite likely much more money to be made monetizing a site’s audience through impressions than clicks. As such, a lot of publisher inventory will likely shift to display advertising and sponsorships. Yes, advertisers prefer cost-per-action pricing, but there is still a large industry where awareness is still a perfectly reasonable objective. And in many cases, other campaigns will be used to ‘close the deal’.

5. Google know all of the points above, and is ready

Where the article really fails IMO, is not recognizing that AdSense and AdWords are already ready for display advertising. It is quite easy and will become easier to create, run and A-B test different forms of display ads. Since the installed base is already in AdWords, and already has their “direct response” campaigns in the system, there is a strong incentive for them to use this same system for top-of-the-funnel types of campaigns. The data is already there and the tools are already in place to make it the best place to view campaigns across the entire funnel, apples-to-apples (as much as possible), over time, and against selected segments or even individuals. And because Google has already acquired DoubleClick, Google is very well situated to help the long tail of advertisers make the transition into banner ads, or wherever the format and targeting winds may blow.

Conclusion

Ultimately, an ad platform is necessary for the continuously growing long tail of publishers to easily run and manage its inventory without an in-house sales staff (and potentially even better performing than an in-house staff). AdSense is well positioned to guard this turf and Google bolsters this position everyday with new webmaster, publisher and advertiser tools.

For the record, Yahoo! is also on-strategy trying to build an equally user-friendly way for publishers to find highly relevant advertisers – and vice versa – by leveraging an advertising exchange which brings to the table ALL of the ad networks (including Google) and thus potentially every advertiser and every publisher. This is called APT. Check it out!

” temen FB ku cuma buat orang yang pernah bertemu secara langsung saja, saya ngga mau kalo tiba-tiba ada yang nge-tag fotoku…”

“I’m sorry, I can’t add you, my FB just for girls only”

“duh ke-tag deh! padahal lagi pingin sembunyikan identitas..”

Komentar di atas pernah saya baca ketika sedang ber-facebook, social network yang lagi “happening” sekarang. Menurut saya sih sah-sah saja membatasi dengan siapa kita berteman, dan terkadang memang perlu, apalagi berkaitan dengan privasi.

Hal privasi yang cukup sensitif di facebook adalah masalah foto. Fitur Facebook memungkinkan kita memasang foto atau menandai (tag) teman kita pada foto yang kita miliki. Semua kegiatan ini secara default akan ditulis pada News Feed, sehingga teman-teman kita yang lain dapat mengetahui foto yang kita upload ataupun foto teman kita yang telah kita tandai (tag). Jadi pada news feed foto tersebut akan dipajang dengan keterangan yang bunyinya kurang lebih seperti ini:

“si A telah memasang foto baru”

dan

“si B telah ditandai pada foto si A”

Nah, ini biasanya yang jadi masalah. Tidak semua orang mau fotonya diketahui orang lain, namun juga tidak semua orang yang mau meninggalkan FB hanya gara-gara foto .

Sebenarnya saya pribadi cuek tentang masalah ini, karena memang jarang foto-foto (kecuali foto narsis ) dan tidak ada niat memajang foto sendiri (kapok ama side-effect-nya), sampai pada suatu saat seseorang yang super rese “mengancam” akan men-tag saya di foto yang super konyol, maka kecuekan berubah jadi kepanikan (errgh,..moga tu orang kelilipan kue serabi).

Hal lain, kadang ada seorang teman lama ingin melihat foto terakhir saya (mungkin dia penasaran campur kangen kali ya, hehe) karena foto profile yang saya pasang bukan foto asli/iconic (karakternya Tobi-sama ).

Kejadian tersebut membuat saya penasaran tentang pengaturan privasi di FB. Setelah sedikit klik halaman FB kesana kemari ternyata semua hal mengenai privasi dapat diatur sedemikian rupa sesuai keinginan kita. Ya, kamu bisa bilang saya lebay, baru tau hal semacam ini, tapi nyatanya toh banyak yang ngga ngeh…

Caranya Pilih Kasih di FB

Pada bagian ini akan dijelaskan bagaimana cara membuat friend lists / mengelompokkan teman. Sebenarnya anda bisa skip bagian ini, tapi dengan membuat friend list maka step selanjutnya akan lebih mudah.

Hajimete! klik “Friends” pada top-bar FB paling atas

.

.

Lalu, pada kotak friend lists sebelah kiri klik “Make a New List”, lalu kamu bisa beri nama list sesuai keinginanmu, bisa “teman lama”, “girls only”, “my fam”,”the mahroms”, terserah kamu… dalam contoh saya namai “who can see my pic”.

.

Setelah itu kamu bisa tulis nama teman kamu yang bakal masuk dalam list yang baru kamu buat di kotak input “Add to list:”, bisa juga pilih teman kamu lewat “Select Multiple Friends” di sampingnya.

Ngga perlu klik okay, karena emang ga ada tombolnya, semua sudah terupdate ketika kamu memilih teman-temanmu.

next part…

Album for The Chosen

Kita bisa mengatur siapa saja yang bisa melihat foto kita (kasus si teman yang penasaran). Caranya?

Pertama kali kita perlu bikin album foto khusus tempat kita memajang foto-foto “bermasalah”

pada kotak Application klik Photos (pojok kiri bawah Home page)

Lalu klik “Create a Photo Album”

.

.

Nah, setelah itu pada bagian Privacy ada drop-down yang mengatur siapa saja yang bisa melihat foto kita (secara default adalah everyone), kita klik tanda drop-down, pilih customize

.

.

Akan muncul kotak dialog Edit Photo Album Privacy,
Hilangkan tanda/Un-check pilihan “Everyone on Facebook”, hal ini akan mengaktifkan field Friends di bawahnya

pilih “Some Friends”

lalu kamu bisa ketik nama teman yang bakal bisa lihat foto kamu,..atau pilih friend list yang sudah kamu buat dengan klik tanda panah hijau di pojok kanan kotak isian.

Pada field Networks di bawahnya pilih “None of my Networks”.

Klik Okay.

.

.

Nah, masalah kita yang pertama yang selesai… semua foto di album yang sudah kita buat hanya teman tertentu saja yang bisa lihat.

Sekarang tinggal masalah temen rese yang suka nge-tag kita di fotonya

Foto Kita: Dari Kita, Oleh Kita, Untuk Kita Saja

Pada top-bar FB, klik Settings

Pilih Privacy Settings, lalu pilih bagian Profile

.

.

Nah, bagian drop-down Photos Tagged of You pilih “Custom”

Di field Friends pilih “Only Me” (atau mungkin “Some Friends”, kalau kamu mau teman tertentu bisa lihat)

Di field Network pilih “None of My Network”, klik Okay, klik Save Changes, selesai.

Kalau step ini sudah komplit maka yang bakal bisa melihat foto tempat kita di-tag hanya kita, teman yang punya foto dan orang yang sama-sama di-tag dalam foto itu, tidak bakal ada orang lain.

Misal si A nge-tag kita dan si B di fotonya, maka yang bisa lihat foto itu hanya kita, si A dan si B. Kalo ada teman si A yang tidak ada hubungannya dengan foto tersebut membuka album si A, maka dia tidak akan melihat foto tersebut.

Sebenarnya banyak hal lain mengenai privasi yang bisa diatur di FB, seperti video, status dan lain-lain. Seberapa jauh anda ingin membatasi privacy juga bisa diatur.

Ads go to hell, please…

Masalah privasi sering menjadi issue panas di FB. FB terkadang menggunakan foto profil kita untuk iklan tanpa persetujuan langsung dari kita. Ini pernah saya alami, untung cuma ngiklanin hal sepele, ngga kebayang deh kalo ngiklanin barang kayak kondom, bisa berabe aw aw tuh

Banyak pengguna FB yang menghapus account-nya gara-gara hal ini. Untuk menghindari ini sebenarnya bisa diatur juga lewat Setting –> Privacy Settings –>News Feed and Wall –> Social Ads, lalu pada isian Appearance in Social Ads ganti “Only my Friends” menjadi “No One”.

Ribet?
Setidaknya sekarang kamu bisa tau cara jaga privasi di FB, apalagi berkaitan dengan foto. Batasan privasi orang memang berbeda-beda. Selektif memilih teman pada FB masih menjadi hal yang paling bijak untuk masalah ini atau mungkin pilihan terakhir:

coba hidup tanpa Facebook

ngga bakalan mati kok, percaya deh.

ps:

link yang berkaitan:

I don’t know why I’m using Facebook less and less these days, perhaps I’m too busy, maybe my online life is more professionally skewed or perhaps I just sub-consciously don’t like the new interface? But when I logged on today my inbox was full with what I can only describe as ‘Friend spam’. These are friends who I haven’t seen for ages but have a vested interest in peddling their own stuff my way. Perhaps it’s the media circles I’m in darling, but it it’s a bit irritating. If they were such great mates they would know I’m half way across the world and can’t come back every Friday to listen to him DJ.

In response to this I have lovingly installed this anti social networking app. But on a more serious note it’s going to be interesting to see how people react to things like social ads and general developments in the monetisation of social networks. Essentially they will live and die by how contextual they can make the ads. There will probably be the usual ‘join the get rid of social ads group’, then everyone will get get over it.

Holy crap.  I always knew Facebook offered up some creepily prescient contextual advertising, but last night I truly got served.

Facebook has figured out that I am in an interfaith relationship, and that I need a rabbi who will agree to marry us.  Evidence below:

So admittedly, the conversation in which this ad appeared touched on subjects ranging from getting engaged to the ratio of Jewish to non-Jewish friends on Facebook.  Not a stretch, necessarily, but freaky nonetheless.  You’re good, Facebook.

Facebook ha recentemente introdotto la possibilità per gli utenti di votare, positivamente o negativamente, le pubblicità presentate nella barra sinistra dei profili. Per la pubblicità di brand che vuole costruire una relazione con l’audience, le votazioni possono essere più utili del click through per capire i risultati, in termini di awareness, della campagna pubblicitaria.

Tuttavia la maggior parte della pubblicità presentata nella sidebar è costituita da “social ads“, che spesso possono essere di cattiva qualità e poco interessanti (annunci personali, offerte di prestiti, ecc.) per gli utenti del network. Questo sistema di voti, quindi, potrebbe aiutare a migliorare la qualità dalla pubblicità presentata su Facebook.

Facebook, inoltre, sta organizzando grandi cambiamenti, come la delicata operazione del re-design delle pagine dei profili.  Le nuove pagine saranno organizzate in tab: ci sarà una tab per il minifeed, una per le informazioni più stabili, una specifica per le foto e per ciascuna applicazione. In questo modo le informazioni relative ad un utente saranno suddivise in varie pagine, con il conseguente aumento delle pageviews.

La nuova versione, come anticipato da adage, semplificherà le pagine, permettendo di proteggere meglio la privacy degli utenti, la barra di ricerca sarà posizionata nella parte centrale della pagina (magari per ottenere delle revenue anche dalle ricerche), non ci saranno distinzioni tra i tag associati dal proprietario delle foto da quelli inseriti dagli altri visitatori.

Peter Corbett, CEO di iStrategyLabs,  a proposito di questi cambiamenti, si chiede se essi possano rendere Facebook il “sistema operativo del social web“.

Nell’ambito di questo processo di rinnovamento, infine, bisogna riconoscere a Facebook di aver tempestivamente informato gli utenti dei cambiamenti e di sollecitarne continuamente i feedback.

UPDATE 11/11: Facebook updated the terms sometime back with this:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

It would be interesting to see if they indeed used a derivative work of your photograph for commercial purposes… would you be able to sue them immediately after deleting the original from facebook? The Terms say that the license expires once you take the content down…
______________________

UPDATE 04/23: You can tell Facebook not to use your name/image in an ad under a well-hidden privacy page. Go to Privacy -> “News Feed and Mini Feed” (why the hell is it in News Feed??), and click the “Social Ads” tab. Then click the drop-down box and select “no one”.
______________________

I was going through Facebook today, when something peculiar caught my eye on the left side of my screen. It was an ad. But it wasn’t one that made me laugh.

Advertisements are really stupid, IMHO. I GO OUT OF MY WAY to ensure I don’t click them. If one piques my interest, I find its URL, and I manually enter it. I. Hate. Ads.

What scares me, though, is the thought of “Targeted Advertisements”. It’s called that when a marketer gathers info about you to show a customized ad that, theoretically, would entice you to click. For instance, say I reveal that I’m a computer science major. They could force-feed me an ad about coding internships. In the movie “Minority Report”, you see a good representation of what it could potentially lead to.

So, back to what I saw on Facebook. A screenshot:

Apparently, they are permitting corporations to utilize your copyrighted photograph in an advertisement for a webpage or application that is probably making money through ads on its own “home page”. Do you know that they’re using YOUR PICTURE and YOUR NAME to promote THEIR SERVICE? I’m posting this for every single Facebook user out there. Because when they decide that they can take my information and post it wherever they feel like it simply because I clicked “Become a Fan”, I will sue them. I kid you not.

I will SUE them.

Unless somewhere deep in the guts of the privacy pages they say I allow them to do this maniacal thing, there is now way that is legal.

I will leave Facebook in a heartbeat if I ever see my face in an ad.

I went back and looked up the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and the Terms of Use for the Developers

In short, app developers must “adequately disclose” what they’re doing with your information (if anything other than what is permitted in the Terms, I suppose). I decided to add the application to see if they included a separate ToS. They don’t. If you click on their “About” link, NOTHING happens (not even a 404.. the app is coded in Flash.. ugh). Also, they have to agree that they won’t infringe your copyright; that clause SPECIFICALLY INCLUDES advertising.
I am so mad right now.

See the Guidelines for Platform Applications: I.3 (I don’t know the formal way to do sections/paragraphs)

In the Terms of Use Policy: 9.iii

And in the Developers Terms of Agreement: 5.A, fourth bullet point.

Toujours dans la lignée d’articles concernant les fondements du web marketing, je veux parler aujourd’hui des Social Networks.
Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Ning… Ca vous dit quelque chose?

Ces réseaux sociaux (social networks) peuvent offrir des opportunités en terme d’acquisition de visiteurs / de promotion de votre marque / site Web.

Comment?

Il passe un trafic incroyable sur ces sites… Vous connaissez peut être des gens qui restent toute leur journée sur Facebook… Ils ne sont pas seuls.

Vu qu’il y a du trafic, il y a de l’intérêt pour quelqu’un qui cherche un grossir les visites de son site.

La première possibilité consiste à promouvoir votre marque sur ces réseaux sociaux.

• Créer un compte sur Facebook

C’est une première étape. Vous faites la promotion de votre entreprise et de vous même.

• Créer un groupe sur Facebook ou sur Myspace

De cette manière vous pouvez plus facilement centrer l’intérêt sur votre entreprise plutôt que sur vous même, et les possibilités de médias sont multiples; vidéos, photos, liens, news… tout peut être ajouter sur les deux réseaux sociaux.

• Créer un réseau sur Ning

la plateforme Ning propose aux utilisateurs de créer un réseau social vertical, c’est à dire que plutôt de considérer que tout le monde devrait être sur Myspace, Ning estim que si on aime Bob Marley alors on devrais faire partie d’un réseau reggae sur Ning, mais on peut aimer la Pétanque, et donc faire partie de la communauté de la boule! Pourquoi ne pas créer votre propre réseau Ning? le package de base est gratuit, et pas difficile à mettre en place. En plus Ning s’engage à vous donner le code afin de pouvoir le customiser. Seuls réticences: les pubs adsense qui gravitent obligatoirement sur votre site communautaire (vous pouvez les enlever pour un peu d’argent), le domaine (il faudra payer pour utiliser le sien) et enfin le système de log-in qui forcément passera pas le “ning ID”, donc impossible à intégrer avec une base utilisateurs existante sur votre site.

Voilà en ce qui concerne la création d’une présence sur les réseaux sociaux. C’est bien simple: plus vous vous investissez et plus le trafic affluera. Cependant, il est clair que certains métiers, certaines industries s’accordent mieux à ce genre de pratique.
Pour les autres, il y a la publicité sur les réseaux sociaux.
C’est assez nouveau. Du moins, ce qui est nouveau, c’est les outils de ciblage liés aux profils des utilisateurs.
Vous vendez des pneus, vous souhaitez faire de la promo auprès des aficionados de formule 1… C’est maintenant possible… En théorie.

• Social Ads sur Facebook: le retour des love marques.

Les profils facebook sont nettement mieux contrôlés que myspace, le staff de FB peut savoir sans trop d’efforts, qui vous êtes, où vous êtes, ce que vous aimez, qui vous aimez, quand et comment… A condition que vous ayez renseigné un profil à peu près vrai… ce qui est le cas de plusieurs personnes rassurez-vous.
C’est pour ça que facebook mets le paquet sur les Social Ads avec un targeting très avancé.
Voilà un petit test sur les social ads.

• Pubs sur Myspace

Myspace, c’est un peu plus fouilli, plus libre dans le constitution du profil, et de ce fait le targeting des profiles est peut être un peu moins efficace. Cependant, on retrouve sur Myspace les musiciens, les artistes… les populations sont différentes entre les deux leaders du social networking.
Tout comme Facebook, myspace a compris que ce n’était pas de la pub que les internautes cherchaient, mais des “marques amies” desquelles ils sont fan.

Une espèce de “ma marque, tu l’aimes ou tu la quittes” sauf que dans ce cas c’est quand même l’advertiser qui a le pouvoir… C’est quand même lui qui paye.

Ce n’est pas tout, il existe encore une autre manière d’entrer en relations avec les utilisateurs des social networks.

L’été (Européen) dernier, Facebook a déclaré ouverte la Facebook Platform, le principe est simple, tout développeur le souhaitant pourra développer des applications qui marcheront sur Facebook. Il y a quelques règles, et un peu de formatage, mais depuis ce moment là, les utilisateurs ont pu retrouver les zombies, les tests de personnalité, les best friends requests………
Ces applications voguent d’ami en ami, et le marketer malin peut saisir l’opportunité en plein vol pour créer une application qui soit à la fois virale mais prolifique pour sa marque.

Pour contrée cet engouement d’apps sur Facebook, google a lancé l‘initiative Open Social, permettant aux développeurs de créer des applications compatibles sur plusieurs plateformes. Le principe d’un point de vue marketing reste le même, après c’est un choix à faire: Facebook ou les autres? Myspace reste à l’écart mais rejoindra clairement tout le monde dans la course à l’open”ness”.

C’est tout pour ce post.
On aura l’occasion de reparler d’autres techniques marketing “sociales” avec Twitter, les social news site, le social bookmarking et encore les forums et blogs….

Pour plus d’infos, il y a une super source sur les social networks. Jeremiah de Web Strategist fait des weekly digest pour que vous n’ayez (que je n’aie pas) pas à suivre tout ce qui se passe dans cet espace plus que croissant.

]]> http://outsmart1.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/the-trouble-with-internet-advertising/ Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:02:25 +0000 outsmart1 http://outsmart1.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/the-trouble-with-internet-advertising/

As you know, here at Out-Smarts we are champions of Internet advertising: in the main because it is more effective at reaching a highly targeted audience, but from an audience perspective Internet Ads can miss the mark or have a counter effect.

Ads are popping up all over Facebook these days and I’ve been interested in getting people’s view on these. In general most people I’ve talked to don’t mind the ads too much, some don’t even seem to notice they are there. However there has been negative comments: one Facebook user told me that a flashing pink ad on the screen was so abusive that he got a cracking headache and had to go and do something else – not likely to click through on that is he? I myself was offended by a series of ads for weight loss products (just because its the New Year and I am woman does not mean I am obsessed by my weight).



So advertisers beware, when creating ads test and try them and think about who your audience truly is and what will appeal to them rather than offending them with nonsense and rather than spread your net as wide as you can, hone in on those who really consitute your niche that way your campaigns are much more likely to succeed after all, the technology is available to let you do this effectively.

]]> http://culturite.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/the-perils-of-social-ads/ Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:22:05 +0000 culturite http://culturite.wordpress.com/2008/01/03/the-perils-of-social-ads/



Wired has an interesting article on Facebook’s display advertisements that are known as “Social Ads”:

“These ads, bought by participating businesses, insert your name and profile picture directly into their pitches. Based on anecdotal evidence, the ads started to roll out right before the holidays.

According to Facebook, a user has to take a “social action” in order to trigger the appearance of their name and picture in an advertisement. According to Facebook spokesperson Brandee Barker, that could be almost any activity that the user does on Facebook, “such as the download of an application and the acceptance of a friend request.” It could also include becoming a “fan” of a business by clicking a link on that company’s Facebook page.

But are Facebook users aware of the results of their so-called social actions? “When you become a fan of Blockbuster, nothing tells the [Facebook member] what that means,” says Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research. Indeed, when you add Blockbuster’s Movie Clique application, there is no notification that you are allowing Blockbuster to use your name and profile picture in a display ad. Owyang suggests that Facebook ought to inform users up front and make it very clear what “becoming a fan” entails, or change the system to an opt-in model. Currently, there is not even any way to opt-out of participation in Social Ads, other than by avoiding associating yourself with any corporate brands on Facebook.”

Source: Wired.com

Despite believing that Facebook’s ’social ad’ strategy — of allowing individual site members to become ‘fans’ of their favourite brands and businesses — has the potential to become an immensely powerful marketing tool, the plan seems to have backfired.

Users are not choosing to participate in this form of advertising and are feeling increasingly co-opted and used by Facebook.

For social ads to work, users must participate voluntarily, they need to know exactly what they are participating in, and they need to provide their permission for their data to be used.

So far, this hasn’t happened on Facebook. Will they be able to salvage this sinking ship?

]]> http://beimnollar.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/adorno-beim-handelsblatt-untergebracht/ Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:15:15 +0000 Stephan http://beimnollar.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/adorno-beim-handelsblatt-untergebracht/

Habe heute in einem Gastkommentar im handelsblatt unter dem zugegebenermassen theatralischen Titel “Die Seele ausverkaufen: Nein” ein Adorno Zitat aus den Minima Moralia untergebracht (Titel stammt nicht von mir). Man kann sich gar nicht vorstellen was das für mich bedeutet, also wie lange dieses Projekt jetzt lief. Habe Minima Moralia bestimmt vor zehn Jahren gelesen (nein, eher 15) und es hat mich geprägt wie kein zweites Buch. Sehe noch heute in meiner Ausgabe die hektischen Anstreichungen in unterschiedlichen Edding-Farben + Unterstreichung + Anmerkungen. Wahnsinn. Dann der ganze Marsch durch die Stationen (na ja), die Selbstaufgabe, das Fettwerden usw. Habe mich schon nicht mehr getraut das Buch aus dem Regal zu nehmen. Ein Coach hat mir dann mal empfohlen etwas zu nehmen was etwas weniger schroff die bestehende Wirklichkeit negiert, konkret “Empire” von Negri (http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/3593372304). Negri hat mal den bewaffneten Aufstand in Italien propagiert – ist aber echt nicht lesbar. Also stick with Adorno. Und was schmeisst mir der Weltgeist da vor die Füsse? Facebook und die social ads. Ist ja auch wirklich so als hätte Adorno von drüben noch die Fäden in der Hand und würde sich amüsieren…

Anyway, Handelsblatt, danke für alles. FAZ wäre noch schöner gewesen, aber was solls.

]]> http://mmdays.wordpress.com/2007/12/01/facebook_revamp_its_policy/ Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:27:52 +0000 Mr. Saturday http://mmdays.wordpress.com/2007/12/01/facebook_revamp_its_policy/

“MMDays 的新家在 http://mmdays.com，請大家告訴大家！舊址 (就是這裡) 將在 12/22 號之後，結束與新家的同步更新。還請網友轉往新站留言 : ) , MMDays 的永久 feed 位址: http://feeds.feedburner.com/mmdays”

Posted by Mr. Saturday

三個禮拜前，Facebook 的創辦人 Mark Zuckerberg 在發表會上非常臭屁地公開 Facebook 的新廣告系統 social ads (Facebook 推出 Social Ads : 廣告界的聖杯？)， 正式名稱叫做 Beacon．並大聲地說：「這就是廣告界的聖杯！」言猶在耳．結果昨天 Facebook 突然來個政策大轉彎，大大修正了 social ads 的廣告方式，而且這個方式，恐怕會是所有人開始對 Facebook 調降預期的一個重要轉戾點．在討論之前，我首先在這邊跟大家前情提要一下：Facebook 所推出的 social ads，可以說是 social network 和網路上廣告模式的創舉，藉由這個廣告系統，Facebook 可以追蹤使用者在一些外部的網站做了什麼樣的購物行為，並且把這個購買的行為廣播給該使用者的朋友知道，如此一來變成一種自動推薦給朋友商品的運作模式， 你在哪裡買了什麼東西，Facebook 就把你當作那個東西的代言人，推薦給你的朋友．此為 social ads．是相當聰明的一個點子，但是這種廣告方式卻很明顯地踩在侵犯網友隱私權的那條邊界上．所以引起一了一些使用者和團體的不滿，其中 MoveOn.org 這個組織最近就專門狂打 Facebook 這種侵犯隱私權的廣告方式，他們的行動和宣傳其實可說是相當成功，到了最近已經有超過五萬人的 Facebook 使用者上網去連署，要求 Facebook 把這種不道德的廣告方式做修正．

Facebook 的這個廣告系統之所以引起很多人的惱怒，不是在於朋友之間互相推薦的這種概念有什麼不好，而是在 Facebook 在使用者不知情的狀況之下，把你買的東西廣播給大家知道．Facebook 的確有提供選項，讓使用者在購物之後，自己選擇要不要把購物的消息讓朋友知道，但是呢，Facebook 把這個選擇的介面做得非常不容易察覺， 在你買完東西之後，Facebook 會有藏在角落的對話框，問你要不要廣播，要是你在十秒內沒有回答的話，Facebook 就預設你要廣播，然後把你剛剛買了什麼告訴你所有的朋友．而且！你每次購物，都要告訴 Facebook 我不要廣播，Facebook 沒有提供任何使用者設定，可以讓使用者預設為不要廣．這種使用者介面的操作方式叫做 opt-out，照字義來解釋，就是說你必須自己選擇退出去，要不然你就是預設被納入廣告系統的框架下．Facebook 採用了這個相當狡猾的做法，所以很多人的隱私就這樣被廣播出去，更有很多使用者說，他們根本沒看過可以選擇不要廣播的選項．

與 opt-out 相反的概念，自然就是 opt-in，就是說你必須自己選擇跳進來，否則你預設就是在這個廣告系統的框架之外．這一次 Facebook 廣告政策大轉彎的地方，就是在於這個地方．Facebook 把他們的廣告系統，從 opt-out 改變為 opt-in．以後除非使用者自己說要廣播，Facebook 不可以把使用者的購買行為洩漏出去．這無疑是使用者和那些抗議者的大勝利，而我看到的是，Facebook 自以為捧在手中的聖杯，出現了一條很大的裂痕．

Beacon 這個 social ads 才推出沒多久，突然在最近遭遇到很強的後座力，主要原因除了 MoveOn.org 這個團體拼了命在攻擊 Facebook，另外一個有趣的原因是因為最近是美國的 holiday season，家家戶戶都在購買禮物要送給親朋好友，結果有些人因為 Facebook 到處幫他們廣播他們買了什麼東西，結果讓他們的朋友事先知道他們準備送什麼樣的禮物，掃了大家拆禮物的興致．我想這或許不是 Facebook 受到反對的最主要原因之一，但這樣的事件卻提醒了我們：有些情況下，使用者會非常不願意透露給朋友自己買了什麼東西．而且這些情況不單單是因為我們購買的物品本身的問題，而是在於人際間的互動，本來就是絕對不可能毫無理由的透明．像這種送禮的情況，並非我們要隱藏什麼不足為外人道的不堪事情，而是為了製造驚喜給我們的朋友．結果 Facebook 的高互動性卻破壞了這個驚喜，我想這是很多人當初沒有預料到的．

人與人之間的互動，本就複雜以及難以預料，現在 Facebook 這個 social network 給我們的，是相當強大的互動性，但卻少了這些複雜本質的呈現，而且這些複雜本質的背後，隱藏的是隱私兩個字，我想創辦人當初也沒有想到，竟然會是在廣告系 統的催化下，引出了這些當初很多人沒有思考到的問題．網際網路的虛擬世界終究與真實世界的複雜度無法相比擬，也常常無法忠實呈現人們的複雜心靈， Facebook 迄今已經有兩次被猛烈抨擊的經驗，第一次是去年推出 mini feeds 這個功能時，mini feeds 會告訴你的朋友你最近在 Facebook 做了些什麼事情，像是跟誰又變成朋友或是你留言給誰之類的．這個功能一出來，也是被一堆人罵得要死，不過到了今天使用者已經算是接受了，這個功能也創造了 Facebook 上面更好的互動性．

第二次就是 Beacon 這個廣告系統了．這一次政策轉變了之後，使用者會不會願意接受這個廣告系統呢？我的看法是，會！但是請注意，接受是一種中立的態度，使用者允許他存在，不 代表使用者會有正面的支持行為，所以這個廣告系統的效果會因為這一次的政策轉彎大打折扣，為什麼呢？因為我相信 Facebook 大多數的人，就跟真實世界中的消費者對於許多政策或是廣告的態度一樣，當初對於 Beacon 都是持中立態度，那些會跳出來反對的或是支持的，各位可以看到都是非常少數的一群人 (Facebook 現在有五千五百萬的使用者)，這種消費者心理告訴我們，大部分的消費者是非常被動的一群人．他們不在乎 Facebook 偷偷去幹了些什麼，所以在這種不做出任何動作的情況之下，Facebook 的 opt-in 政策就變得對自己非常不利，因為使用現在沒了反應，就被預設是不想分享自己的購買行為．這對於 Beacon 是一個殺傷力非常大的結果．

Facebook 作為一個極其成功的 social network，重大政策卻一再地踩線，挑動隱私權的那條敏感神經，使用者作為裁判，能否一再地忍受這種踩線行為？就是我們需要思考的地方．也或許，在 Facebook 身上，我們真的已經看到了 Social Network 的極限．

]]> http://digivine.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/facebook-users-rally-vs-social-ads/ Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:43:17 +0000 digivine http://digivine.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/facebook-users-rally-vs-social-ads/

A couple of weeks ago, Facebook announced ’Beacon‘, the Facebook system for social ads. Pretty soon after it’s launch, this was described by users as “a system based on the idea of bombarding friends with lists of the crap we buy“

Professional activists organisation MoveOn.org even started a group on Facebook to organise the resistance from the inside. 15,000 Facebook users signed up to support MoveOn – within 3 days. So what’s the deal? Social ads have come to Facebook. This is not new, a while ago CEO Zuckerberg alreasy stated that Facebook users just had to get used to social ads, because there was no way that the users would be able to opt out of seeing them (http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/11/zuckerberg-facebook-users-better-like-ads.html)

This is the real issue: The fact that Facebook will only let us opt-out on a case-by-case basis. You will have to opt-out over and over again for each transaction. I agree with the protesters that Facebook should immediately change Beacon to be 100% opt-in. If only because the current system will drive users right out the door. Anyone actually interested in sharing info about this could elect to do so. The vast majority who are not interested should never have to hear about this again.

After MoveOn complained, Facebook said MoveOn “misrepresented” the truth. MoveOn immediately fired back: ”If Facebook’s argument is that sharing private information with hundreds or thousands of someone’s closest ‘friends’ is not the same as making that information ‘public,’ that shows how weak Facebook’s argument is,” MoveOn said in an e-mail. “Facebook users across the nation are outraged that the books, movies, and gifts they buy privately on other sites are being displayed publicly without permission–and it’s time for Facebook to reverse this massive privacy breach.“

“The opt-out is very well hidden,” MoveOn spokesman Adam Green said. “It basically pops up for a second and then goes away, and it’s on the bottom of your screen when you’re purchasing on a totally unrelated Web site, so you aren’t even looking for it.” He added that there’s not a universal opt-out, so members have to repeat the process on each partner site. “Even if you see the opt-out and jump through the hoops of opting out once, that doesn’t solve the problem.“… “The bottom line,” MoveOn spokesman Adam Green said in an interview with CNET News.com, “is that no Facebook user should have their private purchases online posted for the entire world to see without their explicit opted-in permission.”


 

What do you think….?

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