May 5th, 2010 | 
Author: I know that many people out there are ready to hang Facebook out to dry right next to other evil companies after their latest change, but I wish they would stop and think about it first. Not all ‘privacy changes’ are bad! Maybe it’s the tech geek in me; maybe it’s the marketing person in me; maybe it’s a bit of both.
Let’s say that the California Widget Company has a new advertising campaign on Facebook. They’re promoting their latest high-tech product, the Widgetizer3000. Through their Facebook affiliation they can poll the demographics and other profile information to look for things like ‘technology’ or ‘gadgets’ in your interests and if it finds it and you match their target demographics… BLAMO! You get an little ad on the side of your screen for the Widgetizer3000.
This is targeted marketing 101, folks. It isn’t new, it’s just the tools that are new. The same thing goes on in magazines (you don’t usually see an ad for toothpaste in a car magazine but you’ll probably see an oil ad) and newspapers (think about where the sports memorabilia ads are placed) and even billboards (compare ads in your Financial District to the ads in the suburbs).
Is there really all that much harm in others knowing what movies you like or what coffee shop you tend to frequent? Welcome to social living, folks. We asked for it and we got it. If you don’t want to participate, that’s cool too! Don’t share information like your address and phone number or your dog’s name on every website you visit. Practice common sense and guard your identity online just as you would offline.
If you want to know a little more in-depth about the back end stuff, PCWorld did a great article on how the new Likes and Connections work and what you can do to limit what information can be used.
Copyright © 2010 Jeanette DeHoff
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