Mark Zuckerberg was in rare form today as revealed the "social ads" that form the core of Facebook’s long-awaited new advertising technology. Not only did the young Facebook founder wear a rather dapper pair of closed-toed leather shoes in place of his trademark Adidas sandals, he also turned uncharacteristically emotional as he displayed Facebook’s new ads to the assembled audience of advertising and marketing execs.
In a move out of the Steve Jobs playbook, the 23 year-old internet mogul said the ads, which companies will pay to have appear on users’ Facebook pages, were beautiful and made him very happy. But will Facebook’s users feel the same?
For the time being, Facebook users will not be able to opt out of receiving social ads, which will appear on users’ profiles when they post photos, write reviews or do other things on special Facebook pages designed by their favourite brands.
Zuckerberg indicated yesterday that he might consider an opt-out system for social ads, if users demanded it. Until then, the default will be for users to participate in Facebook’s money-making gambit.
