Let’s face it, the only reason I’m writing this post is so I can use a headline that features “LOLcatz“-speak, possibly my favourite Internet meme since the Star Wars Kid (although the “Dramatic Prairie Dog” is running a close third). Still, the news from VentureBeat that Google is working on a custom AdSense platform for Facebook strikes me as a great move by the Internet giant.
While everyone from Microsoft and Yahoo to Google itself is deep in talks with Mark Zuckerberg about doing deals for a stake in Facebook (which has three term sheets in hand with $10-billion valuations, according to Owen Thomas at Valleywag), Google is hard at work tunneling underneath the social-networking edifice and absorbing some of those clicks from within. Brilliant.
As Eric Eldon points out at VentureBeat, Google is effectively using the terms of Facebook’s widget platform — which allows developers to make money from their widgets — to do an end-run around Microsoft, which already has an advertising deal with Facebook that provides the bulk of the company’s $150-million or so in revenue.
In reality the AdSense is a very bad ad network. More than 25% of the ads are spam link sites (no content - just links to other sites - using cj and other ad agency and google ad sense). You can easily be in a loop of only link spam sites. The truth is that no matter how good is your service - you are selling spam to your users. Google tries to conceal it but the more you try the google AdSense the more you see that it is truely bullshit. The real question is why people are clicking at this sites. (I for once will be glad to know the motive of those people - the sites usually are so off from the content and unless you are really bored or stupid there is no reason to click on the ads). It is time to burst the bubble of Google AdSense (and other ads agencies who are making the web a crappy place.
I'm a technology writer with The Globe and Mail in Toronto, and this is where I blog about things I come across on the Web. Feel free to leave a comment or use the contact form to send me an email.
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icanhascheezburger helped me run a lolcat competition for my cat a while back, here's the winners out of the 300-some participants.
http://internetducttape.com/2007/05/18/friday-f...
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