There has been endless speculation around the new advertising network that Facebook will be launching next Tuesday at ad:tech in New York.
There are at least two pieces to the network. One is getting more data in about what users do when they aren’t at Facebook, allowing for far more targeted advertising. The second is running those ads, perhaps even off the Facebook network itself. And then there is the Microsoft angle - since they have some rights to serve advertising on Facebook, it’s unclear how they fit into it all.
Many of the details are still vague, but a leaked Facebook document makes at least one part of the network clear. Facebook is going to be gunning hard to get lots and lots of third party data about its users into its database.
Project Beacon
Beacon is the internal project name at Facebook around an effort to work with third parties and gain access to very specific user data. An example may be a purchase of a book or DVD from Amazon. Under Beacon, the fact of that purchase will be sent to Facebook and automatically included in the user’s News Feed.
At the point of sale on the third party site, the user will see a “toast” popup asking them if they approve the sale information being included in their Facebook News Feed:
The feed information includes the user name, what they did (bought something), what they bought, and where.
Users have a number of privacy options - opt in to always including this data in their news feed, opt out to never include it, or opt in to include it with a secondary confirmation via the toast above. Users can also opt in/out for specific third parties:
From what we hear, third parties supply this data to Facebook without compensation; what they get in return is a link back in the News Feed (which is effectively a free ad). Facebook, of course, gets incredibly valuable data about the user. This data can be used to serve targeted (highly, highly targeted) ads back to them in various other places on Facebook and elsewhere.
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Don’t you think users would be in an uproar about something like this? It seems like just too much information.
Does this mean Facebook is, in a sense, competing with Amazon now?
Facebook is competing with everyone now!
Competing? They are sending them traffic via the feed. This takes serious 3rd party collaboration, and I know for sure I don’t want to have that info put in my feed. Creeeepyyyyy.
Im gonna coin this “OpenSpyware”
Joey,
I see it as a symbiotic relationship between Facebook and Amazon. The newsfeeds will serve to drive more traffic to Amazon, which generates revenue for them. The newsfeeds also (hopefully) increase the usefulness of Facebook, helping retain users.
My Facebook books app uses a very similar approach. When users add books to their profile this event is posted to their newsfeed, and other users get pulled to my app as well as Amazon where they can buy books. If they buy something, then I get my cut as well.
Garth
FB gets back.
http://www.meetingflex.com
Social Networking + Video - Crap
This is very helpful, Michael. Thank you (and God bless TechCrunch).
Opting in for new data is one thing, but will the use of existing profile data — which let’s assume will be used with the Facebook ad network for targeting on 3rd party sites — be opt-in or opt-out? That, to me, is the the biggie.
Worst feature ever.
It plan to enter china now, quite interesting. It is totally different market. google ebay yahoo all struggle there, will facebook ok?
Sure…I want everyone to know that I just purchased “How to pick up girls for dummies” from amazon.com
this is a waste of time. Last night, I was spending time removing feeds on my fb account. To a certain degree, people want privacy. What i am buying and where i am going? I don’t want my 500 friends to know everything I do. I mean, are we that insecure that we want our friends to know everything that we do. Already facebook’s feed is too much IMO, this is just plain silly. What next..have a webcam feed so that everyone will know that I am taking a shower? Geesh
I can see this playing out for users as the news feed did: initially creepy but eventually addicting. I, for one, would be very interested in seeing what my friends are buying online.
It’s only a matter of time before they know when I’m going to the bathroom!
The privacy implications of Facebook are getting significant. I’m not sure that I want them to know all this information about me.
This is very, very, very scarry! I’m starting to get turned off by FB.
http://www.MyCiti.us
http://www.gooruze.com/article.....d-Machine/
This is a stark violation of my privacy. If I make a purchase on Amazon, then I trust Amazon to not provide my “information” to any 3rd party. FB is trying to get the information that users provide to 3rd party providers. It was bad enough that I was being watched every time I was browsing internet (example: google). Now, they are selling this information for targeting ads. One more way to breach my privacy. Where will it stop?
This idea sucks.
@6: What I meant is that Amazon’s business relies heavily on tracking your purchases and interests. Amazon has essentially been a social application for years, with the way it tracks your purchases and provides user reviews. But you’re right, Amazon can still benefit from this.
As to others’ privacy issues, note once again that your privacy is only compromised to the degree that you want it to be - Facebook is giving you complete control over the level of interaction between other sites and you Facebook feed. As I always say, if anyone’s stalking you on Facebook, you’re letting them.
Why would anyone allow the feed in their profile about this type of activity?
I think this is awesome! As long as I can pick and choose what goes to my feed then I’m happy.
Myspace could never handle this type of thing.
@1 - You would think so, wouldn’t you? But not when it’s fresh-faced facebook, people love it then. I just hope the ‘acceptance of terms’ is a pre-filled radio button, so it’s opt-out only.
Based on the facebook’s sterling record of respecting their user’s privacy, I guess I can’t imagine anyone being nervous about this either.
I think everyone concerned with the privacy implications should understand that this is optional according to the article. It’s not like it’s going to force you to send the information to Facebook without your consent. I mean, how would they even know who you were on Facebook without entering in some sort of user information or tying an email address into the account?
Additionally, this doesn’t sound like Amazon only, just that they’re one of the confirmed third parties perhaps? I think this is a really cool feature as well. Who cares if my friends know I bought “You’ve Got Mail” on DvD or something. If I don’t want them to know, I’ll just opt out. If I don’t mind, I’ll let it post and it might spark some additional interaction based on fans of the movie. It’s just a great way to extend your social graph.
need to new tab called FaceCrunch or CrunchBook
all crap…all facebook. i am ouuta here for a week, hopefully i dont see any facebook crap any more. Last one week , there are 4 articles a day on average about facebook. My time is more worth than reading this crap.
Jeez guys, overreact much?
The story says it’s voluntary on a purchase-by-purchase basis. If you don’t want people to know what books you’re buying, you click “no.” Half of you didn’t even read the story you’re commenting on.
As for those of you who think nobody will use this feature. What? Have you ever looked at one of the major social networking sites?
There are lots of people who obviously do want people to know what books they buy and read. Otherwise, there wouldn’t more than a dozen Facebook applications devoted to people listing the contents of their personal libraries. (That doesn’t even include things like all those silly “Harry Potter” apps, which relate to their users’ reading preferences.)
And even if you’ve never looked at the applications, you should have noticed that MySpace, Facebook, and several other networks have “Favorite Books” as part of the basic member information.
People talk about books. Some people even use the books they buy and read as status symbols (The “I read smart books crowd”). People will let Facebook broadcast book purchases they think make them look good, and they’ll hide purchases they don’t think make them look good. Just like in real life.
Seriously, there’s like 10 people in this conversation who need to turn off their computers right now and go talk to some normal human beings. It’s getting scary how much you don’t know about people.
I think the point for users is this: you get recommendations from your friends. Your friend finds an interesting book, then another friend checks it out and buys it too. The book might be worth a look from you too? Or they both buy the same plasma TV set, which is on sale. You were looking for a new telly and there it is.
Facebook is trying to bring this kind of social aspect to a variety of activities, including shopping. I think Mark Z. was talking about this in his f8 keynote speech?
It isn’t easy and there are always privacy issues Facebook has to solve. I think shopping is always case-sensitive: if I buy a present for my friend, I don’t want them to see it on my feed. That’s why I would opt in to include it with a secondary confirmation via the toast.
I believe it is possible to find a win-win-win situation here - FB, third party and the user can all benefit from this.
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
An example of this new service in action………..
“Michael Arrington bought ‘a romantic all expense paid weekend getaway with Mark Zuckerburg’ at Ebay”
Facebook sucks!
This will definitely work. People are show-offs. Social networking is all about showing off.
This is no different than, “what did you buy today?” on every single vbulletin, phpbb, or smf powered community forums.
I agree with #25 JC. I am getting tired of reading about FB on FaceCrunch. Why don’t you just wait until the end of the day and post a 5,000 word brief on Facebook’s daily “news”. Or, maybe we can just have Mike or Erick start a live blog so that everyone can know exactly what’s happening on Facebook, 24/7.
@28 …word of mouth
Only Google and Amazon have ever proved that micro-targeting anything to the level that this information is supposedly helpful to advertisers works any better. Micro-targeting works for them because the closer you get to intent the better you can deliver relevance. The FB problem is no one (right now) comes to Facebook with commercial intent. It’s a SOCIAL network.
Unless FB can develop a transactional model that is intent driven they are more Yahoo/AOL than they are Google/Amazon. It’s possible…but it also has NOTHING to do with why the FB audience comes to and uses the site. My personal feeling is these types of things need to be related to the DNA of a site for them to work. Case in point is Yahoo. They have a search box on every page. How many people use it? Not many. Folks are there for other things –same as Facebook.
yea mark facebook sucks. wtf! hahahahahahaha very funny. This is a very bright idea. Facebook is really thinking! They are on the roll!
This is getting insane. All you Facebook zombies need to wake up and open your eyes to what’s going on here. Close your account and move on. Facebook has been built from the ground up to collect extraordinarily personal information about you. YOUR IDENTITY IS OWNED by Facebook! Facebook intends to LEASE YOUR IDENTITY to advertisers for millions of dollars! They are making $$$$ OFF YOUR HARD WORK.
well it seems there is only one way to make sure my data is never leaked on FB: leave facebook
@33. Word of mouth, exactly. But this time with the mouths of my 50+ friends instead of the three jackasses I hang around with, and my mom.
fail.
The rich get richer once again! While you are purchasing junk from all over the internet you the user decide what websites you want to advertise for free on your account. All the websites that you decide to opt in thank you while laughing straight to the bank, because your friend never knew about Overstock.com but he/she knows you have a FB account and loves gossip.
There’s something that seems to be missed in all this - I have yet to see a company effectively use ‘highly, highly targeted ads’. Amazon knows nearly everything I have bought for nearly a decade, and I don’t think I’ve ever purchased one of their recommendations. Even if users grant Facebook access to their purchase information (and I think they will), unless someone gets a lot more clever with algorithms than they have thus far, the info is essentially useless.
hello spamworld.
Project Beacon, as in Web Beacon or Web Bug — see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_beacon.
This will be an interesting experiment to see the balance of user value to deep user profiling. The user value proposition seems very thin to me, and it appears Farcebook is only allowing users to control the DISPLAY of this information — not the COLLECTION or use. Which means regardless of your privacy settings, and whether or not your friends see it in your news feed, THEY will still record what books you bought and use that to their benefit. And there is nothing you can do about it.
Randy everybody doesnt think like you! This makes the whole thing fun! Facebook is really trying to inovate creative ideas that no other social networking site has. They are really kicking some ass here!
if facebook can do it in a way that you can click on those ads and get paid then everyone will wanna let all the advertisers display their ads on their profiles and then facebook will be on their way chasing google on the road! What do you guys think? This aint lame?
Smiley,
No, they are trying really hard to make as much money as possible. That’s it.
Smiley, I have a question for you. How can I contact you?
If Amazon et all start communicating my private information to Facebook, I’ll happily jump on a class action law suit bandwagon — both FB and Amazon would be violating my privacy. The idea is outrageous and creepy as all hell. And to think that supposedly some users were turned off by MySpace because it had too many display ads… Good grief.
This must seem seen as such a great idea to the dev that thought it up, but there is no way I would ever trust this info to be shared. I will be closing my FB account immediately!
Ryan you can email me at chibizfb5@yahoo.com or smiley@mycutegalaxy.com