[iDC] Facebook's social advertising system and the rise of the fansumer

[Chris Byrne]

Interesting article from the Guardian technology section. Facebook  
becoming more and more like MySpace, it seems:

"Facebook's social advertising system and the rise of the fansumer
The social networking site is providing a way for companies to reach  
people who are what they consume
by Jack Schofield

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook's social advertising  
system in New York yesterday, and it has nothing to do with banner  
ads, or text ads. It is, rather, a clever way to capitalise on the  
rise of fansumers: the sort of people who buy products as a way of  
making statements about themselves and their aspirations: in other  
words, it's the off-the-shelf lifestyle business. (Usually, the  
"statement" is that they have more money than sense.)

To give an example, SugarWater will be able to set up a SugarWater  
profile page, which they can't correctly do at the moment. People who  
love SugarWater will then be able to "friend" SugarWater, making  
their allegiance plain to all their friends. The community of  
SugarWater fans will be able to reinforce one another's judgement  
about the superiority of SugarWater over the rival WaterSugar  
product, from which it is otherwise indistinguishable.

Since this fits the modus operandi of lifestyle marketing, it should  
do well."

Read more here:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/11/07/ 
facebooks_social_advertising_system_and_the_rise_of_the_fansumer.html