Facebook blocks Google+ ads

https://plus.google.com/106914186897370535526/posts/2pTycLzDK79

by tim_sw • 15 years ago

84 53 15 years ago

plus.google.com

erikb3• 15 years ago

You would never expect to find Mercedes ads on BMW's website. Also everybody knows that u don't need to look for Windows advertisments on apple.com. So I think it is also quite normal, that Facebook doesn't want to advertise G+ on their website.

pyre2• 15 years ago

Those comparisons aren't quite the same. BMW and Apple don't sell generic ad space on their sites.

Xlythe2• 15 years ago

No, but even sites that do sell generic ad space have ads they don't want shown (Porn, competitors, things that would reduce the brand name).

scrrr• 15 years ago

Indeed. But on the other hand I don't think Google would disallow or block ads for Facebook. Their strategies differ. Google thrives with an open web, Facebook is a walled garden. But yeah, no scandal here.

j79• 15 years ago

Considering their primary source of revenue[1] is from advertising, I wouldn't think Google would disallow or block ads from Facebook (or anyone with a competing product, to be honest...)

[1] AdWords - Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdWords

rbarooah• 15 years ago

What exactly is more 'open web' about Google+ than Facebook? It seems to be focussed on keeping you on Google properties - not linking different sites together.

It seems to me that twitter are the ones supporting the open web now.

sek• 15 years ago

Microsoft does a lot of advertising on Google sites.

tluyben2• 15 years ago

Indeed; was coming here to say that. If you have the strong belief you are the best (and you should) then you don't care; it's income and the competitor is not as good as you anyway.

ugh• 15 years ago

I know quite a few newspapers that have no problem selling ad space to their competitors and have done just that. Your comparison to companies that don’t even sell ad space doesn’t make any sense.

This is an astonishing display of cowardice on Facebook’s part (if it is indeed true).

Helianthus• 15 years ago

I think that hits the nail on the head. If Facebook were brazenly advertising Google+ as if they had no fear, I'd think that a proper bit of cheek.

Of course, they're probably looking at actual click-through rates and realizing that's not worth it...

nhebb• 15 years ago

If I google "facebook games" I see a few AdWords listed. If a Google user clicks those ads, it's not like that will drive the user away from Google search. But if someone on Facebook has an ad that reads "Julio Fernandez moved to Google+ ...", then that is driving users away from Facebook. I don't see why a company should facilitate a mass exodus toward a competing service. I don't use Facebook and think they're kind of creepy, but I can't fault them for this.

albertzeyer• 15 years ago

Well, you have these:

http://www.facebook.com/Microsoft

http://www.facebook.com/Google

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Inc/105596369475033

Etc. This is quite common for many companies to have some sort of representation on FaceBook. And they try to advertise themselves there. And people can FB-like them etc.

philjackson• 15 years ago

BMW don't have an advertising network, nor any third-party adverts on their site. Not sure your comparison is a good one...

chopsueyar• 15 years ago

You can advertise on BMW's website using CPC or CPM? Where is the signup form?

peacemaker• 15 years ago

I completely agree. It's crazy to think that Facebook would willingly advertise a major competitor during its launch period! It's minor ad revenue vs users and I think users win here.

spacemanaki• 15 years ago

Those comparisons aren't quite appropriate because as far as I can tell, these are individuals advertising their G+ profiles on FB, not Google advertising the entire G+ product.

Daniel_Newby2• 15 years ago

Also everybody knows that u don't need to look for Windows advertisments on apple.com.

VMware Fusion: http://store.apple.com/us/product/TX501LL/A

VMware View for iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vmware-view-for-ipad/id417993...

atarian• 15 years ago

It's now on Techcrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/15/google-ad-on-facebook-is-ba...

law3• 15 years ago

If Facebook were confident that they make a better product, they'd embrace competition as a sort of self-check in the system. They'd spend a day or two to adapt their already-developed you-can-download-your-whole-account feature to allow customers to switch to Google+, if they desire.

But they won't do this. Their reluctance underscores their belief that they don't make a product superior to Google's; if they did, they'd have no problem with these advertisements.

skarayan• 15 years ago

In my opinion, a reason for concern is different than believing their product is inferior.

At the end of the day, this is business. In business, there are many ways to battle the competition.

G+ is clearly gaining some initial traction and Facebook doesn't want their platform to be used to better the competition.

law3• 15 years ago

I think it's more nuanced than that. Facebook's reputation and brand equity is perhaps their second most cherished asset (second to their user base). A move like blocking Google advertisements will result in even more bad press when they really need to focus on delivering a better product.

In the end, however, I think Facebook will become obsolete. It's a technology like any other, and I think it has become too big for it to be everything to everyone. Of course, that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

Klonoar3• 15 years ago

Facebook is a damn business, Google+ is competition. The fact that this ad was blocked isn't really news, it's just how business plays out. It's not in Facebook's interest at all to run this.

I routinely find myself astonished at how people think the online world should work. Everything should be free, don't charge for anything, let your competitors advertise in your space, ads are the devil, business plan is to make money through advertising... seriously people, the hell?

code_duck• 15 years ago

Perhaps you should glance at the article before posting - the ad is an individual advertising his own profile.

Klonoar3• 15 years ago

I'm well aware of what the article says, thanks. If I ran a Ford lot, I wouldn't want someone selling their Chevy on it, as it can send any number of messages that downplay the quality and/or relevancy of my wares.

This is business, plain and simple.

haberman2• 15 years ago

What competitor's ads do Google block?

People respond to a story like this because it belies an attitude of weakness/protectionism from Facebook, not so much because of some kind of moral outrage about how things "should" be.

Klonoar3• 15 years ago

This is different; Google created an advertisement solution for the entire web and pushed it as such, necessitating that it be fairly open and non-judging.

Facebook's exists solely on their website, and while some will try to argue that Facebook has by and large become "the web" for people, the point is that it's still their site, their rules, their game, and in turn you play by their rules. They don't hide this fact in the slightest.

It's simply good business for Facebook to block these ads.

Natsu• 15 years ago

I don't know that they do. I keep getting an advertisement for "alternatives to adsense" in my Google ads.

The only exception, such as it is, would be that Google booted Copiepresse after that company sued them. They claim to be required to do so by court order, though Copiepresse disputes this. I haven't read the court order myself, so I don't know, but I can easily see it being badly worded.

erikb3• 15 years ago

Googles policy is totally opposite to Facebooks. If Google (still having the biggest web search engine as their driving product) would block facebook, then I would not support Google, because it is against their policy. FB never said they were not about business. And from the business point of view G+ advertisment on FB is "evil".

If Google says "Let's play the game like gentlemen" I expect a gentlemens game from them.

Of course I'd love to see G+ beat FB. I hope that helps u to see, that I merely am against this kind of "under the belt hits". As long as G+ stays true to it's word of "don't be evil" I absolutely support them over FB.

AltIvan• 15 years ago

Oh yeah? This is just bussines? Well, then maybe Google Search should be starting redirecting users to Google+ every time someone clicks a Facebook link.

loganlinn• 15 years ago

I'm sorry, but that is a terrible analogy. Redirecting a link is blatantly deceitful and dishonest. Not to mention we are talking about advertising space here, not search results.

The comparison would be if Google did not allow Facebook to advertise in Google. Either way, I think it's hard to compare their advertising spaces due to their very different natures.

law3• 15 years ago

Right, Facebook is a business, and they were being paid to run an advertisement. It turns out that the ad (albeit indirectly) is for their competition. Blocking on the presumed basis that the advertisement may encourage users to leave Facebook is bad business. The advertisement is legal and honest, but the problem is that it 'might' cause people to leave Facebook. I think we all 'get' that Facebook is running a business, but this practice is anti-competitive.

dendory• 15 years ago

Not approving ads for G+ I can understand. However Facebook has a history of blocking shares, even through private messages, of any site they don't like, and that's wrong

orijing• 15 years ago

No one here mentioned the likely reason that the ads were blocked by the ad review system (a combination of ML and people in India or something). I don't know exactly how it works, but I'm pretty sure it is risky for Facebook to allow ads to run with trademarks that the advertiser does not own.

The Google+ logo is a trademark.

Can he try running an ad with just his face? It still might get disabled (in which case it probably is for competitive reasons) but I suspect that would take a lot longer... Especially if he doesn't say Google+.

"I have moved to another social network. Click here to find me now" would likely get past filters.

reso• 15 years ago

A million times this. I bet, with their volume, very few ads would make it to the human-review stage at Facebook. This was most likely caught by an automated filter that didn't like something (e.g., the trademark image) about the ad.

Never attribute to malice what can easily be attributed to stupidity, or in this case, naive artificial intelligence.

ig12• 15 years ago

All new Facebook ads are manually approved.

patrickaljord2• 15 years ago

They can just check for the link to google+, no need for a fancy image filter for that...

B0Z• 15 years ago

Konoar, you are wrong.

What others have noted here needs to be considered. It's not the fact that Facebook is blocking ads that point to google plus, it's that they (apparently) have chosen a particular competitor and applied a completely different set of rules that others are not bound to. That, by definition is anti-competitive. I'm not lawyer, and certainly wikipedia should be taken with a healthy dose of common sense, but these are the first two sentences of the entry on United States antitrust law: "The United States antitrust law is the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior (monopoly) and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

Antitrust is EXACTLY the same thing that Google is now being investigated for by the department of justice... by promoting an unfair pricing / ranking schematic against competitors by ensuring their own ads are listed higher than those of the competition. (Yelp, I believe).

If I were facebook, would I find a way to stop Google+ ads? You're damned right I would, but I would be subject to the same scrutiny of those who comment here.

This is not a no-brainer. This is a big deal.

oppo• 15 years ago

When did hacker news become so sensationalist?

"My Facebook ad is live! Last night I found a message from +Michael Lee Johnson where he mentioned that his Facebook ad promoting his Google+ account was suspended after running for about an hour. I wanted to find out if Facebook would approve my ad.

Any publisher can refuse any ad they want, and Facebook's advertising guidelines make it clear that they can "refuse ads at any time for any reason, including our determination that they promote competing products or services or negatively affect our business or relationship with our users."

Since +Mark Zuckerberg said that he did not see Google+ as a competing product, I wanted to test their advertising guidelines and it looks like Mark was right. Facebook does not see Google+ as a competing product as my ad was approved.

Now they can take my $ from the clicks of my ad. Congrats Facebook, but I still want my friends to know I moved to: http://Profiles.Google.com/SocialJulio "

Not to mention there are probably issues with trademarks and running ads to a specific person (a friend tried to link to his own profile and his ad was blocked).

ig12• 15 years ago

I'd be curious if they'd allow such an ad for a Facebook profile, possibly they disallowed it because it was inappropriate to the target user group (for example you're not allowed to target dating sites to people in a relationship). Especially if the guy chose to run it as CPC, Facebook will have no commercial interest in running an ad which will get a negligible amount of clicks.

jangozo• 15 years ago

its pretty interesting where this war will go ... pretty much gplus is taking a good market share this time :)

Facebook blocks Google+ ads

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