Who ever said that shameless self-promotion wasn’t a good thing? Oh yeah – Twitter. While dozens have dismissed the seemingly too commercial brands as nothing more than spam artists, companies like Google are now relying solely on what you want to say about their ads.Finally, someone gets what social media is about: a content-driven democracy. Through Google’s new targeted ad approach, you can customize your preferences for the ads that pop up, but first you have to navigate through the many that land on your page as a result of cookies (those parcels of text that are input into a browser).
Still, other social Web companies have yet to catch on, like uStream.TV. Don’t get me wrong—I love uStream, but not the ads they have forced on a lifecaster’s page. I’d prefer to watch Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV talk about her video nomination for the Island Reef Job (Vote for Cali!) without the distraction of a Techcrunch ad. Sponsored ads only work if it’s really in the best interests of the consumer watching, not a generalization of the viewing public.
Facebook has somewhat gotten it right, as I don’t think ‘hot bods’ actually correlates to my profile interests of running or boxing. But I have to say, Google is entirely on the right track and I’m looking forward to seeing more shameless self-promotion being the criteria for ads smattered all over the Web… from this point forward.
What do you think about ads on your favorite social network?