Facebook and Business: Advertising

According to Facebook's statistic page, Facebook currently has over 350 million active users. Because of this, it is no wonder that businesses are now using Facebook for advertising purposes. For example, if you have a Facebook account, it's hard to miss the many free gifts offered by Facebook daily. These free gifts may seem like a fun way to brighten a Facebook friend's day, but these gifts are actually hidden advertisements paid for by businesses. For example, recently, the free Facebook gift was a holiday drink provided by Starbucks. By offering a holiday drink for users to give friends, Starbucks hopes to encourage users to actually buy these holiday drinks--not just give them as gifts on Facebook. And I have to admit...I was given one of these holiday drinks as a gift on Facebook, and I fell into the trap: a couple of hours after receiving the gift, I headed down to my local Starbucks and purchased a holiday drink--the Gingerbread latte.

However, this subtle type of advertising does not end with the free gifts. The margin advertisements on the side of every Facebook user's profile page are both unobtrusive and discreet because the advertisements blend in with the overall layout of Facebook. Also, did you ever notice that the margin advertisements seem extremely personalized to each specific Facebook user? For example, was there ever an ad that seemed extremely personalized to your interests? Well, this is because these advertisements really are personalized because Facebook allows businesses to engage in a form of target marketing--i.e. businesses are able to display advertisements to selected demographics.

Specifically, the advertising software provided by Facebook allows businesses to choose these demographics based on the information given by users on their (the users') profile pages, such as hometown, religious beliefs, interests, education, and favorite movies. Businesses can then easily choose the demographics which are most likely to purchase their products.

So, the next time you give a free Facebook gift or even update your information on your Facebook profile...you are actually doing more than meets the eye: providing businesses opportunities to advertise their products.