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Friday, June 06, 2008

"Commercializing friendships"

I've had a lot of trouble articulating exactly what it is that I find so creepy about "social networking". I think this is it, though.

The first step toward demand generation was encouraging users to share information about their interests, favorite movies and books, and political beliefs that would allow Facebook to send advertisements targeted to their demographic. The second controversial step that Facebook took is to partner with dozens of online retailers so that when a member buys a widget on a partner’s site, all their Facebook “friends” find out. This sinister system would be akin to my computer automatically emailing my address book when I purchase a book online.

By turning members into consumers who involuntarily advertise to their friends, Facebook hoped to extract profit from social interactions. However, by commercializing friendships, Facebook has irrevocably destroyed its image. Now a vanguard of the anti-Facebook movement is developing out of an increasing disenchantment. No longer a fun, harmless place to hang out, Facebook has become just another commercial enterprise.


Of course this is an Ad-Busters article, so after making the useful point it then devolves into an adolescent fantasy about saving the world via a "movement" of some sort. But the analysis is still essentially correct.

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