Facebook’s Roar Becomes a Meow

Word of mouth tricks like the Beacon attempt are their only hope if they want to turn this into a cash crop. Personally I find such tactics frightening. I've heard of companies paying everyday people to plug products in their conversations with friends and associates. This would probably be the best way to advertise via something like Facebook, but think of the consequences to society. Your day to day interactions are bought out by corporate interests. You can't even turn to your best friend for advice without wondering who's paying him to talk to you. I understand why companies want to pay people for word of mouth advertising. I don't understand why people want to take the money. That's sick. My speech isn't for sale. I'm sure a lot of people's is though; so, Facebook my advice to you is invest in real word of mouth advertising using real people paid to infiltrate social groups and plug products. Use pretty girls and trendy men. Find the mavericks, early adapters and trend setters. Additionally mix this with artificial agents and data mining programs like Beacon. Of course you'll want to keep it all on the DL. People may not like it but they'll get used to it. Privacy and personal opinion is a luxury of the past. Today we are all products.

I wonder if ads were implemented at the launch, perhaps users would have been able to stomache them better.