The Value of Online Advertising

The popularity of social media is giving people the opportunities to connect with people they never imagined to be possible. When I think of social media connecting people, my first thought it Facebook. There are a ton of social media outlets, but this one is the one I think of as the most personal. This is for a variety of reasons, but Facebook was the first social media platform of the ones that are still popular today. Meaning you can run, but you cannot hide from the old pictures that were posted of you before you reached your prime. The image you create for yourself on social media can be altered whether it’s using filters, photo shop, or any other means available to alter the image, it is a representation of you, but not necessarily the real version of you. Through using online advertising Facebook creates ads they think are relevant to the most common version of yourself, based on your searches and activity.

facebook.com

Facebook shows ads at all times you are looking at your feed. On the desktop version, your feed is in the middle and to the right is ads. These ads are based off of the things you have recently searched. How relevant these ads are can be creepy in a way, because I wonder how Facebook knows what I have been looking at. As I learn about Adwords, I realize there is a good chance the advertisements on Facebook come from this source or something similar.

I understand why there are advertisements on Facebook, but I wonder why they bring up what we already are interested in. If Facebook can access this type of information about, is there more they could be doing with this space on their webpage that would benefit society more? For example, my Facebook profile says I am single, so why are they not advertising dating websites for me. I still do not think that would be the most effective use of this space, but if Facebook knows my location, my age, my education, my work status, who I am related to, and who I interact with, why are they showing me what I already know I am interested in? What if Facebook saw those things, saw someone was a young adult, uneducated, and advertised universities in their area with adult programs, or affordable programs. Or if Facebook saw that you do not have a job, so they advertise a job fair in your area.


I think Adwords and the ability to tailor ads for specific people and specific purposes is an amazing device, but I do not think that it is being used in the most beneficial way. People spend hours a day browsing the web and running into ads. Not all ads need to be serious, but when I am seeing a towel on the beach over and over (one of the ads that’s following me to every website these days), but I do not live near a beach I am not drawn to it. Facebook, and other similar platforms, have a wealth of information about people, but I do not think they are using it to maximize social capital. It seems like an untapped resource. People know marketing works, and it has been changing and evolving with the internet and social platforms, so why wouldn’t we try to create advertisements that would increase social capital.

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