Facebook’s Ads and Sponsored Stories Invade Zynga, Everyone Shrugs
We suppose it was only a matter of time before Facebook started leveraging its massive database of user information and preferences to spread its advertising beyond the borders of the social network. The company noted quietly on its site that personalized ads and sponsored stories will now also appear on social gaming site Zynga.
The “rules” of the ads, according to Facebook, are as follows:
While it’s unprecedented that Facebook ads would spill over into another site and speculation abounds that this portends a full-fledged Facebook advertising network, the bigger story is that most users probably don’t care that this is happening.
Time was, the idea that Facebook was gathering our personal private likes and dislikes and using that data to target ads at us was appalling. Anymore, though, targeted ads are rather nicer than seeing completely random shotgun-style advertising, and plenty of folks have gotten used to the idea that their tastes in products and other information is just out there for the taking. Facebook is really just taking things to the next logical step by putting its ads on other sites. Zynga is an obvious choice, as the two entities are basically blood brothers, and millions already share their Facebook information voluntarily with the gaming site and other entities.
Frankly, it’s hard to get too bent out of shape that Facebook is finding ways to monetize itself; it’s a completely free service used constantly by close to a billion people. Even though some people seem to think that everything digital is somehow free, it’s not.
On the other hand, perhaps the idea that Facebook ads just escaped the zoo is horrifying to you. Anyone care to sound off?
The “rules” of the ads, according to Facebook, are as follows:
While it’s unprecedented that Facebook ads would spill over into another site and speculation abounds that this portends a full-fledged Facebook advertising network, the bigger story is that most users probably don’t care that this is happening.
Time was, the idea that Facebook was gathering our personal private likes and dislikes and using that data to target ads at us was appalling. Anymore, though, targeted ads are rather nicer than seeing completely random shotgun-style advertising, and plenty of folks have gotten used to the idea that their tastes in products and other information is just out there for the taking. Facebook is really just taking things to the next logical step by putting its ads on other sites. Zynga is an obvious choice, as the two entities are basically blood brothers, and millions already share their Facebook information voluntarily with the gaming site and other entities.
Frankly, it’s hard to get too bent out of shape that Facebook is finding ways to monetize itself; it’s a completely free service used constantly by close to a billion people. Even though some people seem to think that everything digital is somehow free, it’s not.
On the other hand, perhaps the idea that Facebook ads just escaped the zoo is horrifying to you. Anyone care to sound off?
