Facebook on Monday launched a new way to share content online – the Send button. While the functionality is nothing new, how you share content with friends may change with this new process of sharing. Facebook’s goal is to be that “pipe” in which you share more and more information, ultimately learning much more about you so it can deliver specific and targeted advertising down the road.
Let’s look at Facebook’s point of view for a minute. Why do you share links now? You know someone who would find a use for that content, right? Here’s an example scenario: You thought your friend would like this new recipe on a cooking site because she is into gluten free cooking. You send the web address to your friend(s) through the Send button, Facebook takes note of who you send it to, what the link is, the content of the page you sent, and your message. Before your friend knows it, they are seeing ads for gluten free cooking in the right hand column of your Facebook profile. This is exactly what advertisers are after – user relevance. Would you pay more to know that your product or service is being seen by your exact target audience? Absolutely. Targeted ads sell at a premium and Facebook is upping the relevance factor on it’s users.
The difference here is that your friends are helping create your interest profiles for advertisers. In some instances, in bulk thanks to Facebook’s group features.
What are your views on targeted ads? Creepy? Useful? Reminds you of the annoying eCards from a few years back? Let us know in the comments below – or better yet, “Send” this story to a friend. 🙂
