The Face on the Ad is Yours!

“Your content and identity are being used as ads.”
-         Josh Constine

Advertising has come a long way due to the Internet. From same-ads-for-everyone (what TV and radio still do), we moved to ads based on what’s relevant at that instant (think Google search), and then to companies mining our data as we surfed to know what we might be interested in.

More recently, in 2011, Facebook started the concept of “sponsored” and “promoted” posts…from our friends!
“If you Like a brand’s Page or post, check in at a business, download or use an app, or share a link, advertisers can pay to boost that action’s visibility in the feed (of your friends).”
Twitter shows you ads based on what the people you follow like. Pinterest and Instagram are doing the same. And now Google has jumped on the bandwagon.

Oh, in case you didn’t realize, these ads show up with your friends’ names and faces alongside them as people who liked/ bought/used that product or service.

If you thought, “Who cares? I don’t click on ads regardless of why they turned up”, think again. This model is very effective, even if you did not click:
“If your friends’ names and faces got you to look, the ads have done their job.”

Most of us want the Internet to continue to be free for most things (information, e-mails, social networks); and so we understand the need for ads (someone’s got to pay the bills, right?). But in case you feel violated or used by this new approach to online advertising, Constine asks you to reconsider. If ads are a necessary evil, he says, then isn’t it better that the ads be more relevant and from trust worthy sources, i.e., your friends?
“Advertisers will say just about anything to get you to buy (they’ll even use pictures of babies…But you trust your friends. We’ve always asked them for advice directly. Social ads just scale that word of mouth and give you their recommendations without them having to repeat themselves.”
And for that to happen, people have to opt into such a model: that way, everyone gets to see ads they might believe. Which would make it a win-win for the advertiser and the person viewing the ad, isn’t it?

The downside, of course, is that everyone just became a brand ambassador for something! Andy Warhol was so wrong when he talked about everyone having 15 minutes of fame in the future: if this ad model is here to stay, then everyone will have a lifetime of publicity, or at least as long as they use the Internet. Come to think of it, they are pretty much the same thing.

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