Most people involved in social marketing know the power that exists for eCommerce within the online social circles. Having thousands upon thousands of people using one site is every eCommerce marketer's dream and the perfect place to utilize advertising and marketing efforts to reach a lot of people. Facebook.com is one site that has recently taken a bold step in an effort to
make money in social websites, while advertising to members and tracking their web activities.
With its Beacon online advertising system,
Facebook is able to track its members' moves on third-party sites that are also connected to Beacon. The kicker is that the tracking continues, even after Facebook users have logged off of Facebook's site. Ultimately, the online visits the Facebook user makes while logged off are then broadcasted to Facebook friends, revealing visits and purchases.
In fact, even if the members have selected NOT to have their online activities published for their Facebook friends to view, the tracking continues.
Recently there was an outcry among many
Facebook users when the tracking was discovered. Because they had not realized their online, off-Facebook activities were being tracked, nor had they knowingly received opportunities to prevent the tracking, many users were angered and developed a petition to stop the invasion of privacy.
Following the petition and obvious displeasure of its members, Facebook altered the Beacon system to provide more explicit options for users to eliminate certain messages from being broadcast to friends or to avoid being tracked on certain websites. However, the social networking site did not give the option for users to entirely opt-out of the Beacon advertising program, so the tracking remains.
What does this mean for the
social marketing industry? Has Facebook overstepped the limits of what is right and fair? While working in the online world may offer more flexible ethics when it comes to marketing efforts, particularly social marketing efforts, it would seem people should still be entitled to a basic right to privacy.
Yes,
making money in social websites offers a lot of possibility and great income potential, but there must be a way to profit without overstepping the boundaries and encroaching on the private lives of online users.
Learn more about Facebook.
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