Facebook Case Study

Social media is a huge part of our world today for some it’s their news source on what their friends and contacts are up to, with this type of traffic in social media sites marketers are eager to get their advertisements on it in the most appropriate eye-catching way possible, what Facebook did was change the way online ads were viewed and conducted, they created a new way of making people know about a product, and know about products liked by the ones they know best their friends.

What are the privacy issues associated with Facebook ads?

A limit of Privacy is always is a needed for online users. But we can say that the most used Social media websites is not really caring of the privacy issue. Facebook has more than 1.19 billion active users Which Facebook ads are using its users Personal date to benefits the paid pages ads. Some of the issues are listed:
Targeting Specific audiences by using users personal data.
When a Facebook user like a page all his friends will be notified of him liking this page
If a facebook user searched a topic, Facebook will recommend to the user pages that are related to the topic.
And now with the new updates of Facebook. Facebook Can tracks the user mood, Place, Interests, and much more. Users updates their Statues or places without Knowing that they are being monitored. That's why users should really be careful of what the write or search about.

How are Facebook ads different from that of its online rivals' ads? Before Facebook ads there were two main types of ads on websites; search ads on Google and banner ads everywhere else, but Mark Zuckerberg CEO and cofounder of the social media site wanted to be different by using a strategy that is trusted by consumers and that is “word of mouth” Facebook succeeded in this by making their users the marketers. People would believe the choices of their friends and family over the heads of the advertising companies. What appeals Facebook to companies is that most actions done by the site users can be seen by their contacts –if someone liked a company or a product it will appear to their contacts- this type of advertising mainly aims to inform people about the brand and to keep the brand in mind for when making a purchase, it’s a different experience in that people can communicate to the companies by comments and showing brands as friends of the consumers rather than the normal gap that exists with other types of adverts.

3) What are the challenges faced by Facebook ads?
Facebook is trying to revolutionize the online advertisement, and with the type of data it has access to, however using this data is a challenge itself. The company biggest challenge now is trying to come up with an idea that appeals both to consumers and advertisers. Another challenge is to attract people to the ad, because when socializing, people are not in as much of a mood to click ads as they are when actively searching for information. Facebook may promote a brand or provide a link to a brand site, but many still don’t carry friends’ recommendations or even a like button.
Also Knowing demographic bullet points about someone, is not as valuable as knowing what they’re looking for right now. A site like Google and Yahoo understands its users and offer such experience due to the nature of search ads unlike Facebook.
A lot of companies promote for their brand, and make occasional offers through their Facebook page, where a number of users interact with, as some reach to a possible purchase. Which is an added quality for the company, as they’re gaining more customers for free, Whereas Facebook “the online medium” that helped in this process don’t get paid for it.