4 ms·
I'd be interested to hear any insights as to why Facebook hasn't yet pushed to build a display advertising network for third party publishers (a la DoubleClick)
by ajessup 14y ago
I'd be interested to hear any insights as to why Facebook hasn't yet pushed to build a display advertising network for third party publishers (a la DoubleClick). That way it could leverage the assets that it does have (behavioral profiles) against an asset it doesn't (users with direct purchase intent).
On a side note - I'd take issue with your suggestion that the information on Facebook is largely useless to an advertiser.
There doesn't have to be any explicit "truth" to the action being measured (whether it's what a user happens to press Like on, or some abstract measure like their ratio of likes to logins), all that matters is that it's a measurable predicate of some other behavior that advertisers care about - like the language you're likely to respond to, what stage in your life you're at, your self image, what the rest of your peer group is into.
In many ways this a lot like a first date as well, in that the things your partner may embellish or overcompensate for might actually tell you quite a lot about what sort of person they really are.
- brandnewlow 14y agoFWIW, everytime I ask my friends at Facebook about this they make a weird face and say "no comment."
- rvkennedy 14y agoIt is clearly their plan to do this, and in line with their stated intent to form the "identity layer" for the web. It's unlikely to work though, because the web has a great tendency to upset the plans of those who want to basically control the whole thing. It's sure that some kind of identity layer will come into use, but an open system (maybe a descendant of OpenID, maybe not) will always have the advantage of allowing myriad people and (importantly) companies to do different things with it. And that's the kind of evolutionary openness that saw off AOL in the 90's in favour of the web.
- brandnewlow 14y agoYou know, another really obvious reason why it might not be a good idea: Facebook ads are really cheap and have awful CTRs. Advertisers are used to paying very little for them. Web ads though cost much more and are expected to perform a lot better. What if FB launched an Adsense competitor, but no one cared because it performed so much worse?
- aaronbrethorst 14y agoI've been wondering the same thing for a couple years. It seems like an opportunity that's way too big to pass up.
- stdgy 14y agoI expected Facebook to announce plans for an ad network to coincide with their IPO. I'm a little flummoxed that we haven't heard anything yet. It seems like an obvious outgrowth. I wonder if concerns over a privacy backlash would push them to keep this project on the back burner? (Though I don't personally see any privacy issues with such a project)
- brandnewlow 14y agoHonest question: Would it REALLY generate that much new revenue for them? Their problem isn't owning the web. They do already. It's mobile.