Sorry! I thought this had posted but I "saved" the blog instead of posting it last week.
The United States has a history of commercialized media. It seems that the Internet has finally fallen into this realm. How do you feel about advertising on Facebook? Have you ever felt offended by the ads that are targeted toward you? Do you think there is a better way to support Internet companies other than selling advertisements? Would you pay to be a member of Facebook if it meant having no advertisements?
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While the mass media market always attempts to find new ways to sell themselves to the vast and reachable consumer population, it should not have been a surprise when Facebook users began to see advertisements on their pages. Personally, while I take no offense to the issue at hand, it does somewhat disenfranchise such users to completely alter their homepage to be seen as they had originally intended. What I mean here is that due to the public display of advertisements, one cannot stop others from viewing their pages, which will also have advertisements on such pages. As consumers/users of Facebook, we have to just deal with it for now, until something, if anything, changes.
We have all seen the classic Obama ads; they’re everywhere. From the $12 tee-shirt to the buttons, the media loves this presidential candidate. However, the Republican Party sponsors had also placed their own ingenious ads, those of which were targeted to consumers that were “tired of hippies”. It seems that political advertisements have started to dominate some pages.
Since I am not an economist and do not intend to become one, I cannot personally say if there is a “better” way to support internet companies other than taking their money for such ads. Sure, they could become partners or even “sponsors”, but in my opinion, that is still a form of advertising; it may be less direct, but it is still clearly there.
As a non-paying consumer of Facebook, I would not agree to pay a fee to keep my Facebook if such a switch was made. Instead, I would wait until someone computer-savvy enough made an almost identical Facebook website and use that. If such a payment was actually constituted, I foresee many others attempting to make similar websites, free of charge, so that they too could make money off of such an idea.
I am not really bothered by the advertisements on Facebook. They are small and in the side of the webpage. Sites like Myspace has gotten to the point where there are ads everywhere and that gets really annoying but I don’t think Facebook is not nearly at that point. The material from the ads seems inappropriate at times especially when you think that younger kids are going to be using this website but most of the time I can easily ignore them.
I think that keeping the advertisements minimal is the best way to approach how they run their website. Cause certainly too much will bring the downfall and decrease of popularity and charging people will greatly reduce the use of the website. I am pretty sure that I will not pay to get on the website unless it’s a really small amount. Cause I will not do any monthly plan and I really do not think that I will pay more than a few dollars to join any site. I personally think that Facebook is fine by advertising but keeping it limited.
The advertisements on Facebook really piss me off. I keep giving them the "down thumb" but they pop up anyways. Facebook pretends as if they care by asking for the reason, but then it is completely disregarded. I hate the idea that advertisements are geared towards individuals based on the contents of their profiles. However, like any business venture, Mark Zuckerburg needs to make money right? I think that a better way to support internet companies is by paying a subscription fee and/or donations of sorts. However, that isn't an effective method to make money. I think I would pay a minimal fee for a facebook that didn't advertise, but I don't know how many other people would. As facebook diminishes in usage, I think it would lose it's appeal.
Advertising on facebook is fine; it's a commercial business and businesses require income. Since membership is free, facebook needs to make money somehow, and as long as the advertisements aren't overwhelming or distracting from the overall experience of using the website, I don't see it as a problem. The reason websites have any worth at all is because of the amount of unique visits it has on any given day is equal to that many customers that an advertisement is appealing to. On facebook, the ads are off to the side and I hardly if ever even pay any attention to them; I've heard from my roommate however that since his "relationship status" is listed as single, he often notices that the ads he sees are about meeting other singles. It's all a part of the "facebook Beacon" program, where all the information we've ever listed on facebook is being sold to third-parties; that's the price we pay for using a free service. I personally would not pay for facebook if it meant having no advertisements. As I mentioned, I barely notice the ads as it is, and as long as it doesn't get to the point where they're glaring, blinking ads at the top of any page, it's fine by me.
The advertisements on Facebook never bother me. They are pretty small and I tend to block them out. However, the advertisements on Myspace are the absolute worst! In comparison to the ads on Myspace, I'd rather have 500 Facebook ads than the three or four on the Myspace homepage. The ads on Myspace blink, make noise and are distracting. The ads on Facebook are just text so it doesn't bother me at all. I think Myspace has gone a little extreme with their ads. Overall, I don't think ads are a bad thing, to a certain extent. I would not pay to become a member of Facebook if it meant not having to deal with advertisements. Like I said, the ads don't bother me on Facebook enough to want to do that.
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