How welcome is advertising on Facebook? I barely notice it, unless it's one of those grotesque neon flashing things that (remarkably) still seem to pop up from time to time.
Despite the nuisance of flashers (ahem), I'm quite sure most people would still rather put up with or ignore those ads in preference to paying directly for anything. Some research from utalkmarketing indicates that most Facebookers don't want the site to be commercialised further - as if that was a surprise.
utalk asked 1000 people if they'd use the site less as a result of more advertising and sponsorship on the site, and 40% said yes.
The conclusion utalk makes is that based on 39 million users, Facebook could potentially lose 16 million customers, although the site's userbase is actually 10m more than their release indicates so 40% would actually be more like 19.6 million people. But hey.
The problem with that straw poll is that is simplifies what a advertising or sponsorship does on a website to the point of irrelevance. The whole point of Facebook is its data mines; once it opens that fully and targets advertising to within an inch of your life, no-one will be leaving Facebook. Quite the reverse, in all likelihood.
If you've stuck Bat for Lashes on your profile and then get served with an ad that offers half price gig tickets, for example, that's hardly going to put you off. Crude example, I know. But they already seem to know I have a thing for sheepskin boots.
My favourite line from the release: "The research also casts doubt on the recent valuation of the company at $15 billion when Microsoft bought shares last week.
"Experts now question how Facebook will be able to monetize its mass audience if it can not increase the level of advertising. "
Or, experts are saying Microsoft will now be able to monetise Facebook's mass audience. One or the other.
Source: Release
Technorati Tags: Facebook, Microsoft
