UberNoggin

On Wednesday Facebook announced a new advertising plan that allows users to be marketers for their favorite bands, products, stores etc.

According to the Facebook blog:

“Engaging with businesses and buying things are part of your everyday life. Advertising doesn’t have to be about interrupting what you’re doing, but getting the right information about the purchases you make when you want it. We believe we’ve created a system where ads are more relevant and actually enhance Facebook. “

This is radical thinking in the world of marketing and advertising. But before I explain why let me give you a little case study/example of how this will work.

Bob has a Facebook profile and adds an application for, say, Amazon. Every time Bob adds a book to his wish list on Amazon an item goes into his News Feed announcing “Bob just added Brain Surgery for Dummies to his Wishlist” and all of his friends are notified. When they click on the feed they’re connected to Bob’s page and then to Amazon to see the book and are offered a discount on the book because they arrived through Bob’s recommendation. (Please note that not all Facebook advertisers will be offering discounts etc. but it would be nice!) Maybe Bob gets a nickel off his next order for every friend who purchased one of his recommended books.

It’s a pretty straight forward recommendation advertising scheme already in use on lots of sites. But here’s the kicker. There’s a difference between going to Amazon, for example, and clicking on “What my friends are buying” and having that same information delivered to you in another space, your social network.

There are a couple big ideas in play here:

1. The power of recommendations: We all know that we’re more likely to buy something recommended to us by a friend than based on advertising but I think it’s interesting to ponder the responsibility associated with recommending a product. How many times have you told a friend “Oh, man! That movie was so great! You HAVE to see it!”? They then see the movie and tell you “OMG! That movie sucked! I thought you had good taste!” The result? You stop recommending movies to your friend. Offering recommendations reflects not just on the product, but on the person offering the recommendation as well as on the person receiving it. “You thought I’d like that sweater?! Do you even know me?!”

2. Context of ads: It’s all about context. There’s a huge difference between someone shoving a coupon in your face as you walk down the street and the cashier saying “Did you know there’s a coupon for this? I think I have an extra one here. You’ll save a dollar.” In the first case the ad is unwelcome, even if it is for a product you’re interested in. In the second, you’re already interested in the product and you welcome the coupon. In another example, if your friend called you every day to tell you what he bought last night at Target you’d probably get annoyed. But if you were at Target and you could see a hover over products that said “Your friend Bob loves this soap!” you’d probably be grateful (or at least understand why Bob smells like Lavender and Honey all the time). Context determines whether an ad is welcome and helpful or annoying and obtrusive. The question is are ads from friends on Facebook welcome or intrusive?

I have to conclude that the level of intrusion and the power of the recommendation depends on who the friend is and how often they shove recommendations in your face. So, will you be a Facebook ad-whore or will you reject them and reject the friends who use them? Will you be able to ignore the ads like you would a sidebar ad or a banner ad? Do you think this kind of advertising is useful? powerful?

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