In a recent post by Sarah Fier on Bloomberg, the truth about what social media advertisement agencies have to say about Facebook is revealed. The moment General Motors Co. decided to pull their ads off of Facebook, a discussion began about how companies that manage brands on social media truly feel about the effectiveness of Facebook. Frier mentions big social ad companies such as Adaptly, 22Squared and AdParlor that work with even bigger companies such as PepsiCo Inc. and Kraft Foods Inc., Florida's Natural Orange Juice and Baskin Robbins. She talks about the discussions that have gone around among these companies about their not-so-confident thoughts about the effectiveness of having their ads up on Facebook. There is definitely a sense of disappointment and frustration with Facebook and the tremendous costs that comes along with it that doesn't necessarily promise the best advertising outcomes: “It is not easy for a brand to get Facebook advertising to work,” Chief Executive Officer Hussein Fazal said. “It’s not just about plastering the site with ads. Facebook advertising can only be effective if you have specific end goal in mind. Do they want to drive users to local dealerships? Or are they just trying to get people to ‘Like’ their brand page? There are different strategies for each." (What Social Media Ad Agencies Say About Facebook).

This is certainly an important topic, especially given last week's stock offering, but you might want to add a sentence or two to more directly relate it to our course. For example, Shirky writes about the economics of capitalism and the fact that corporate heads once needed newspapers (even ones with anti-corporate agendas) to advertise their products. Now he says that symbiotic relationship isn't needed any more . . . or is it? The Facebook story suggests that targeted online advertising might not yet be ready to take over.
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