Intellectual Property Law

Facebook Ads Overhaul?

By Tim Armstrong, Derek Bambauer, and William McGeveran.

Last November, when powerhouse social networking site Facebook unveiled its new “Facebook Ads” programs, company founder Mark Zuckerberg declared, “Once every hundred years, media changes.” (This absurd hyperbole immediately became a punch line, as in the hilarious response from Nicholas Carr at the time.) I have criticized these programs before from a privacy perspective and am now writing a law journal article about the broader issue of “social marketing” and data privacy interests.

It now appears that change comes, if not every 100 years, then perhaps every eight months. Facebook is in the process of rolling out a comprehensive site redesign, which may include some changes in its advertising structure. All eyes are watching, but they don’t agree upon what they see. Yesterday, Valleywag first reported that the ads’ prominent placement was eliminated in the new layout. It then posted an update to say that the ads had reappeared but adding that there still seems to be uncertainty and upheaval:

Full post as published by Info/Law on July 23, 2008 (boomark / email).