The popularity of social networking has grown dramatically over the past few years. MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn currently offer advertisers access to over 160 million active users in total. New research based on Dynamic Logic's AdReaction 2007 study, which measures consumer perceptions of various forms of advertising in the US and across parts of Europe, suggests that these social networking Web sites present a unique platform where brands can connect with consumers.
While it is no surprise that most people, if asked, will say they prefer less or no advertising to more, the study shows there seems to be a certain degree of optimism about ads on social networking sites, yet not without special considerations. For example, there was user outcry against Facebook's recently proposed Beacon advertising platform, which automatically tells a user's Facebook friends what they bought when shopping online. This suggests that consumers may be open to ads on social networking sites, but not at the risk of an increased loss of privacy. Facebook have since decided to make Beacon an opt-in system, which only tracks data if given explicit permission to do so.
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