Facebook Thinks I’m Gay

by David Evans on May 2, 2008 · 2 comments

in Marketing

Online Dating Insider delivers cutting-edge insight and commentary on all aspects of the online dating industry. Topics include industry news, site reviews, emerging trends, analysis of dating site features, discussion about safety safety, finance and other issues important to the online dating market. Don't miss our Startups directory, useful to anyone running dating or social networking sites. Subscribe to the RSS feed (you can subscribe via email as well). Your comments and suggestions for stories are welcomed.
We offer consulting services to dating sites and social networks as well.

facebookgay.jpgGreat, now Facebook thinks I’m gay. Sure, I have metro-sexual tendencies (skin and hair products, expensive jeans), but how could they screw that up? Hopefully it’s a short-term bug. Is there any way that this mis-identification can be seen or propagate into my news feed or other applications?That would be a problem, to put it lightly.

I hit Facebook about 10 times a day and all I ever see are dating ads. Perhaps I should change my status to in a relationship and see what ads I get. First I’ll have to hide the update from everyone or risk upsetting a few people and dealing with lots of questions.

Advertising inventory on Facebook is pathetic. Can’t they get a few major brands on board? Maybe I’m not seeing the same ads as you are. The More Ads link show mostly dating ads, some local and of course the ubiquitous “Win an iPod” ads. Interesting, when I reload More Ads, I see a bunch that aren’t related to dating which I never see otherwise.

On the applications, side, the story is the same. Everyone is rushing to be the biggest and baddest ad platform on Facebook. To succeed you need to show me something new, like compelling and relevant content that engages me. Facebook advertisers and ad networks, you’re not even coming close to providing a quality experience. Please keep trying.

Unfortunately the more interesting ad action is embedded in applications, which is a shame, because I spend a lot more time outside of apps than inside them.

Sad thing is these companies will continue to shovel un-targeted crap at us and still manage to get sold for millions. Nobody said success on the Internet had to be even remotely related to quality.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

FreddieNo Gravatar 05.03.08 at 10:06 pm
‘how could they screw that up’ — it’s the advertisers, not Facebook. Advertisers target the ads themselves (self serve model) so if they mess that up that’s what you’ll see.
David EvansNo Gravatar 05.04.08 at 12:17 am
Good point Freddie, but I still put blame on Facebook for not creating an ad system that enables better targeting via profile date.

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Previous post: MySpace Charging For Featured Applications

Next post: Cupidcast Interview: Engage.com