Last week brought the news that the UK government has stopped advertising on Facebook and seeks assurances from sites where its ads may show up on user generated pages. This follows the news that Vodafone UK has stopped placing ads on Facebook, because its ads turned up on someone’s British National Party user page:

COI’s online media-buying agency, i-level, already stipulates that advertising should not appear on sites that contain socially unacceptable behaviour. COI went a step further after several companies highlighted the dangers of appearing on user-generated pages – which on Facebook include “America is full of blithering idiots” and “Bring the death penalty back and why not make them public executions”.

Which just goes to show that the traditional “placing ads on sites” model of advertising is increasingly less applicable, as we start networking more. An ad in a social space like Facebook is where the “smooth” space of the network collides with the “striated” space of the market. Owners of social spaces seeking to leverage revenue from ad placements would do well to take note. Ads, even contextual ads are completely disregarded in a social media space; if companies are willing to invade what users regard as “their” space, it should come as no surprise to them that some of the user generated content may not be to their liking. If you want to become part of the networked space you need to network yourself. Dominance hierarchies are determined by reciprocity and collective ownership of “goods”. An ad placement in that word is as best ineffective and at worst an annoyance. Now that is something I would not want to be associated with, but I assume governments are used to being an annoyance. As is Vodafone.