To Like or Not to Like - That is the Question.

Okay, so who amongst us has never envisioned themselves featured in some kind of advertisement? Many of the print and television ads I see try to portray the model as a normal person, someone easy to identify with. And when I can truly relate to the model I start to think "hey, I could do that - why doesn't this company use me in their next ad?"  With the wide variety of products and services being marketed these days, one could easily think there are opportunities for everyone to be in the spotlight. Well, there is - It's closer than you know and a lot less glamorous than you might've hoped. As for those dreams of making a ton of money as a product pitch-person - you can forget about it.

Everyone who has a Facebook account has agreed to it's Terms of Service. Certainly we've all read it and understand it - right? We may want to take a look again at Item #10 -the one about our chance to be featured in ads without even knowing it:

About Advertisements and Other Commercial
Content Served or Enhanced by Facebook

Our goal is to deliver ads that are not only valuable to advertisers, but also valuable to you. In order to do that, you agree to the following:

1.You can use your privacy settings to limit how your name and profile picture may be associated with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. You give us permission to use your name and profile picture in connection with that content, subject to the limits you place.

2.We do not give your content or information to advertisers without your consent.

3.You understand that we may not always identify paid services and communications as such.

So what's the big deal? Even though the terms clearly state "You give us permission to use your name and profile picture" the use of that information for sponsored ads has caught people unaware. The New York Times Daily Report: What’s Behind Facebook’s ‘Sponsored Stories’ describes an incident of a man who jokingly 'liked' a 55 gallon barrel of personal lubricant - and now everyone knows it. To read about more incidents and reactions follow the link in the article to Do People Like Being Featured in Facebook Ads?

How do you feel about the practice of Facebook using you and your influence to collect revenue from sponsored ads?  Do you think you'll be less inclined to 'like' product and services?

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