Comments on: Facebook Ads: What will the kids think?

By: Ben, San Diego, CA

Ben, San Diego, CA — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:31:05 +0000

Everyone. Let’s see what happens. No company is going to survive if it doesn’t pull in some sort of revenue even if it is a non-profit. At least we can hope they don’t become the next Myspace where ads per page outnumber the features. The worst thing can happen is we all migrate somewhere else.

By: Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX

Yadgyu, Harkeyville, TX — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:18:55 +0000

Facebook is at the turning point between cool company and corporate titan. All successful corporations go through this at some stage. I believe that users will dislike the new ad features, but they will get used to them if Facebook offers expanded features and controls.

I believe ads are a small inconvenience when compared to the coolness of Facebook. People need to at least give the new ad features a chance before getting upset and threatening to leave the site.

By: BusinessTV, San Francisco, CA

BusinessTV, San Francisco, CA — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:36:02 +0000

The young people I know are too ad-savvy to be manipulated into being unpaid advertisers for a brand.

By: Lorenzo, Washington, DC

Lorenzo, Washington, DC — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:07:14 +0000

I have to agree here. Personally, I think Facebook is becoming to commercialized. I am 23 and I got to say that I dont like a million different widgets. I am all for open development but this is ridiculous. I guess I cant be upset because users choose to add them but man.

When I first joined Facebook it was the cool place where college kids could go to hang out, it had an air of specialness to it like you were a part of something. Now its just like any other thing. I always hoped that Facebook would remain a place that I wasnt bombarded with folks trying to analyze my spending patterns and market to me.

This is just my option, but although I believe that Facebook will continue to grow at a staggering rate I think that will only be because of the younger generation joining up.

For the 20 somethings that marketers covet so much I think they are losing us with all this unneccesary crap. I used to surf Facebook all the time, now I just check my messages and wish friends happy birthday. Thats it. I understand that they are a business but if what I feel is a prevalent as I think it is, I suggest Mark Zuckerberg sell Facebook while he can lest he become a bigger fool than IBM after they passed on Windows.

By: SmartGuyStocks.com, Asheville, NC

SmartGuyStocks.com, Asheville, NC — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:10:23 +0000

Facebook is making the same mistake as MySpace. In time users will migrate to the next “indie” social network because college kids want to feel independent, not manipulated into being corporate marketing teams. Have the execs gotten so old and out of touch that they forgot what it was like to be a student in college?

This is unauthentic, and I bet there are already groups of people on Facebook spreading the word.

It may be the case that social networks will not be worth billions upon billions for ad revenue. People need to have some personal space where there’s not a constant flood of commercialized gimmicks in their face. And at some point, an entrepreneur will give it to them (now that Facebook is performing the old bait as indie and switch to corporate).