Above Image: Dan Schawbel noticed I was endorsing Career Builder within Facebook, after I became a fan
Dan Schawbel, an energized social media practitioner at EMC emailed me, and said he noticed that I was endorsing Career Builder, within Facebook, he wondered it this was intentional and if I was aware of it. He’s not the first to tell me, this, and I explained I had become a “Fan” of their site (I do this for many brands in Facebook, for research purposes, to see what happens) and apparently it surprises a few folks. I should say, I’m not really a fan, as I don’t even use their site.
When a member becomes a Fan of a brand within Facebook, it signals an affinity giving the brand the opportunity to cross promote among the members network. I covered the opportunities and challenges of being a ‘fansumer‘ in this earlier analysis this year. This is not new, as I noticed David Berkowitz endorsing Blockbuster and he requests and opt out as the process appears to be difficult.
Questions for you:
Is your company engaging in network recommendations?
Are you making your fans aware of this endorsement ahead of time?
Is becoming a fan, consent of brand endorsement?
The idea is good. Their approach/model is backward. Brand loyalty should be rewarded not hijacked. This is a bit like claiming someone/anyone/everyone walking through a mall, endorses the stores they pass or enter. Some browse but make no purchase.
I wonder why the obvious is never considered?
Maybe it is considered but dismissed.
One of many reasons I do not use FB.
It’s totally unacceptable.
If they were just highlighting a random Friend of your network with a random “brand” to promote awareness of the feature, that might be something worth debating the ethics of…
but this is clearly a situation in which Career-Builder has given money to Facebook to “Advertise” their brand and your likeness was placed in the advertisement without your express written consent. Absolutely unethical, unacceptable, and (if you felt like pressing the issue) probably illegal enough to warrant financial compensation from Facebook to you.
Perhaps enough people probably should start suing Facebook for this activity… otherwise it will never stop. I promise you they have read this very blog post and have laughed at you for feeling slighted… they feel above the law, and certainly above any sense of ethics. What big social internet player was NOT founded on a basis of unethcial acceptance to being with? Myspace, YouTube, Facebook… all these places relied on a lack of ethics and a disregard for human rights and even the law to become what they are today… and just like any successful company, they are going to keep on doing what has always worked for them… in Facebook’s case, it is to skirt the thin line of what it ethically acceptable to do with their members data.
You can opt out.
Privacy > News Feed > Social Ads
Then nobody would be able to find it 🙂
As a college student, I’m a big facebook user. I always see my friends pictures with ads that say they endorse a site or application. A friend recently told me that my face pops up on a lot of those. This is embarrassing to me, and seems in a huge violation of something. I was pissed, how dare they use my face and my network to market their product without my consent. I’m trying right now to un-fan all the pages that did that.
The idea is good. Their approach/model is backward. Brand loyalty should be rewarded not hijacked. This is a bit like claiming someone/anyone/everyone walking through a mall, endorses the stores they pass or enter. Some browse but make no purchase.
I wonder why the obvious is never considered?
Maybe it is considered but dismissed.
One of many reasons I do not use FB.
in becoming a fan, can the producer of the fan group see all your information, the same as one of your friends would be able to?
in becoming a fan, can the producer of the fan group see all your information, the same as one of your friends would be able to?
in becoming a fan, can the producer of the fan group see all your information, the same as one of your friends would be able to?