Coming soon from a friend near you. “My life as an advertising billboard”

There is something sweetly ironic in Facebook boldly announcing its newest “late to market” ME2 strategy within days of President Obama’s Address to the Nation calling on America to “win the future by out-innovating, out-educating and outbuilding the rest of the world” .

This time it’s Sponsored Stories. A variant on Twitter’s Promoted Tweets.

While Promoted Tweets was the platform that allows businesses to insert themselves into the Twitter stream in order to rise above the noise. Sponsored Stories is a new ad format that turns your friends’ actions into promoted content.

Not surprisingly - with Facebook rapidly becoming the new flagship of 21st Century US innovation – the US press find merit in the idea.

“It’s a brilliant idea: Organic advertising for companies. A payday for Facebook. The downside? Users are going to freak out a bit. It’s not just a privacy issue. Facebook users likely won’t be happy about the fact that they’re not getting paid for their “celebrity endorsement.”” – Forbes

and,

While on the one hand, the fact that my activity is now being turned into ads for my friends makes me feel a little icky inside, I don’t totally hate this idea. I would like to see what new restaurants my friends are trying, what online articles they found worth sharing, where they shop, etc. That’s the least offensive kind of advertising I can imagine, and arguably, the most effective, too, if done right. – RRW

and,

“the new ad format is a “very big deal… When you see your friends in anything, you are going to be drawn there,” said Michael Lazerow, the CEO of Facebook marketing firm Buddy Media. Several of his clients have already signed up because they’re looking for ways to “turn up the volume” of their word-of-mouth marketing efforts on Facebook.” – Wall St Journal

The only question I would ask – at least from the marketer’s perspective – is why would I pay for something that I am already getting for free? In the example being published around the media today we see an update from somebody who has mentioned they are drinking coffee at Starbucks now being interrupted by the inclusion of a Starbucks logo.

Again the question is: You already have the “Free” referral so why take the risk of poisoning the relationship by throwing your Logo into the conversation? Next time they may just say coffee and conveniently forget the brand simply because they don’t like ads in their conversations. So you’ve paid for something you already get for free and you’ve lost the next referral. How smart is that?

The other thing I would point out is this. Let’s assume sponsored stories becomes Facebook’s dominant advertising engine what happens when a Cigarette smoker tells the world 5 times an hour that they have just lit up another one of Brand X’s glowing sticks or consume alcohol. Now that the conversation is advertising how do the world’s regulatory authorities interpret this online event. Is it a conversation or is an advertising promotion? and if it is an advertising promotion reach under age consumers in a market where advertising of these substance is prohibited or restricted how does Facebook manage this conversation come adverting promotion? Does it monitor all conversations in real-time so that it can censor any illegal advertising activity undertaken by its users. And how would Facebook users react to the monitoring and regulation of their conversations.

There are some interesting paradoxes in the monetization of conversations that need to be resolved. I may be wrong but I suspect it could be far more complex than simply inserting ads into the conversation stream.

From the Facebook user perspective this of course is Memium for the masses. The only problem is you don’t profit from your experiences… Facebook and Twitter are the ones counting the pennies.

I guess in the end however if you are Facebook or Twitter user the question both you and your friends have to ask yourselves is “Is the sum of my life, the personal expression of my everyday experiences amount to nothing more than an Advertising Billboard?”

If you can honestly answer yes to that question – and let’s face it it works for a lot of celebrities and sports stars – then congratulations. You have made it. You are the next level in western social evolution. You truly are a SoMe man.

My apologies. That probably should be SoMe Person… How does that hit song in the UK go at the moment that sounds a bit like that 80′s hit by Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Come on Eileen“? Poor old Andy Gray…

Further reading

• A dedicated follower of fashion?
• AdBook, AdSpace and AdLinked
• In the future which box will you call home?

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Tagged: Advertising, Facebook, Memium, Promoted Tweets, Social Media Advertising, Social Media Marketing, SoMe, Sponsored Stories, Twitter

Posted in: Facebook, Innovation, Social Media Marketing, Twitter