Columnist Ian Hughes rants about the latest issues affecting our industry. This time, his topic is: Facebook – friend, foe or flop?

There are few people who do not know about the existence of Facebook – and people are either sweet or sour about it. But Facebook can also be a place to do business as well.

At my company, we have tried to use Facebook to recruit mystery shoppers. What has been surprising is the way in which targeting is carried out. With search engine adwords, you target someone who types in a phrase such as ‘mystery shopper’. With Facebook, you can target people more by their psychographics.

For instance, you can say, ‘I want to target people who have said they are interested in shopping, are male, over the age of 18 and live within a specific distance from me’.

Slightly more interestingly, you can say, ‘I want to select people who are friends of my friends’.  

We have more than 500 friends on Facebook and work on the principle that the best people to contact are those who are similar to the people we already have as friends. 

This is all very clever stuff. But here’s the bit that worries me and I think will alarm consumers . . . 

The ability to be highly refined in targeting and segmentation is great for the marketer, but begs a huge question – is it ethical? 

This is not a political question of ethics. It’s more of a Daily Mail/Daily News version of ethics.

As marketers, we might consider it ethical – BUT what will consumers think when national tabloid newspapers grab it and start bleating on about it? 

What will they think when the media announces that the ads you see on screen aren’t some harmless bit of haze, but are actually using information you have volunteered ‘for free’ to  help people find you.

Let’s face it folks, this could be viewed as highly intrusive. 

An ad could read: ‘Hey! Are you a single man, aged over 40 and living in Bristol? We have a hot date for you, tonight.’ 

Some people will find that useful, some people will find it downright offensive.  

It’s great targeting. But will consumers and their advocates think it’s right? 

Ian Hughes is MD, Consumer Intelligence. Email: ianh@consumerintel.com  Twitter: ianchughes  Facebook: ianchughes  And on LinkedIn.