Facebook: Killing the goose?

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None of us who use Facebook are so naive as to think that it is a free service.  The “cost” of playing is that they use all of the data you post to direct advertisements your way.  It is simply how these applications on the Internet are monetized.

But many friends and I have noticed a dramatic upswing in the number of sponsored items on our news feeds, often showing up with the message that one or another of friends has “liked” the link.  In the past, there would have been a few of these, but now they come in a ratio of 1:10 or 1:20 among the feeds on your page.  Here are three examples of what they look like.  (I’ve omitted the accompanying pictures.)

I searched the web to see if this upswing in such ads is a new deal, but found nothing.  But I did find this “helpful” suggestion on the Facebook “Help Community” from a few months ago:

Alison asked:

How do I stop the bombardment of advertising posts on my newsfeed – almost all totally irrelevant to me, and some against all my principles.

Hailey provided this non-answer:

Alison replied:

I know all about the options not to see ads from particular advertisers, but the bombardment I have been getting recently is beyond belief. And opting out of each on individually takes time which I don’t have to spare. I want to be able to opt out of ALL ads ad sponsored links. I’d never follow them anyway – I take word of mouth and recommendations from friends as the best advertising, not people who need to pay to advertise.

There was no response. 

So we know that we can delete the ads we don’t like, but who wants to spend the time doing that as you scroll through looking for news from your friends?  As my buddy Lyette noted: “I’ve already found myself checking less often, because I know they don’t even show me half of my friends’ updates.”

So, what do you think?  Is Facebook over-reaching now?  Will it change your viewing habits?