Microsoft takes over Facebook Adspace

Mircosoft just closed a deal with Facebook for $240 Million. The Facebook network is currently valued at over $15 billion. Most of that value coming from the information companies can get from people's profiles. Microsoft now owns 1.6% of Facebook. That 1.6% being the rights to sell all the banner ads to international markets and all the display advertising that we all see everytime we load a new facebook page. Facebook had been negotiating with Google and after losing out the them for a number of jobs over the last few years Microsoft was excited to land this one.

Facebook is raking in the dough with it's newly updated cost per click ad program called Facebook Flyers. This program lets advertisers target users based on their demographics and profile information. Soon Facebook is about to launch a new ad system that will enable advertisers to target placements via profile data on Facebook and other Web sites. Google, AOL and Yahoo are all getting set to put their advertising on other websites. Microsoft rep Van Natta feels that both the advertiser and the consumer/user are winning from this situation, "That win is through highly targeted, relevant ads. This partnership is all about delivering on that." The financing is likely to give Facebook the time and resources to continue building up it's social network.

Is this going to benefit consumers? Or does it just mean that we are going to be bombarded with more pop-ups and more blinking "Click to win your new Vaccation!"? Selling user information seems to have some ethical problems and it definitely makes me rethink my 'Favourites' and all the information I put in my profile. It was only a matter of time until bigger badder corporations got a hold of Facebook and it's users.