Archive for February, 2012
Social Networking Sites Invading Our Privacy…
A while ago, I noticed that every time I logged onto Facebook all the ads on the side either appealed to me or were somehow connected to me- “How on earth does Facebook know me so well?!”. Turns out, Facebook and other social networking sites are tracking our movements on the internet, creating databases, and providing assurance to companies that if they pay them, their advertisement will be broadcast to their target market.
This is a very strong marketing strategy for Facebook (boosts their revenues), but is it an ethical business practice? We have had discussions and debates about ethics in business, and ultimately we concluded that good morals equate to stronger customer relationships. Personally, I feel like I have to be more and more careful when I use any website (not just Facebook) because I don’t feel safe surfing the internet anymore. I don’t think it’s fair that businesses are able to manipulate us into purchasing their products or bombarding us with information on sales, promotions etc.
Although this video isn’t very popular, I wanted to show everyone how EASY it is for companies to find your data and include you in their target market:
A blog written by Victor Pan, marketing associate of WordStream Inc., compares Facebook with Google and concludes that Google will overtake Facebook in the social networking world. What I found stated in this blog that was interesting was that 1 out of every 4 minutes online is spent on a social networking site– this is just calling out for unethical advertising. Now these two companies are competing head to head to provide better services for their members, all in order to lure in big companies.
After the class debate on subliminal and political messages, I sided on the “against” side. Simply put, everyone is entitled to make their own decisions, and shouldn’t be manipulated into wanting something. I believe that people have their own core beliefs and values, and if companies are advertising to consumers and making them think they need something they don’t, its just complete garbage!